between the alder and the willow
where the spent heads of teasel
and purple loosestrife lodged
or lay aslant through force of water
the lower path still paralleled the other
along the breached embankment

walkers in summer heat had drowsed
between the rank and seeding flowers
the battered moths and darting damselflies
seemed subterranean     a darkness
settled in the roots of reeds and in the moist
and fleshy leaves of irises     sky

smudged by midges in a column overhead
was blue and distant     this is where
she rested when the river fell    stiff legged
barrelled with gas and tight as a great
drum    becoming naked with the rain
and blind to any further journeying