"The Black River of Loss, Whose Other Side is Salvation" - Poetry

An excellent poem about trauma, loss and -- ultimately -- survival -- with no implied reference intended to the famed/notorious American defense contractor of the same name (which coincidentally employs a number of combat-traumatized veterans, some of whom are looking for their own exit).

In Blackwater Woods

Look, the trees
are turning
their own bodies
into pillars

 

of light,
are giving off the rich
fragrance of cinnamon
and fulfillment,

 

the long tapers
of cattails
are bursting and floating away over
the blue shoulders

 

of the ponds,
and every pond,
no matter what its
name is, is

 

nameless now.
Every year
everything
I have ever learned

 

in my lifetime
leads back to this: the fires
and the black river of loss
whose other side

 

is salvation,
whose meaning
none of us will ever know.
To live in this world

 

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

 

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

-- by Mary Oliver