The River People

Down here

Everybody says that The River People don't really belong there

I know What it's like to be a stranger and divide a town beside a frontier

People want your business and little more

I've watched shadows lengthen from a close door

Mountains wide

Nothing is clearer to The River People than what the others try and hide

You spoke

Pushed your chair back at the meeting

I could tell that you were petrified

You said the best people can suddenly oppose

The sight of goodwill and then it arose

Two people, four people crossed the floor

I saw children run

I wept amidst the uproar

Now around here

Your stranded face before moonlight

The colour of the sea

You came

Up to the house after swimming on sunset and the flattened sea

The sky had opened it had gone bust

And you and I watched The River People swim before us