But the cold river flows, an immaculate

                       Patience against those who will return.

                            Tu Fu, "Dawn At West Tower"

For more years than any ancestors knew,

Here where they painted their bird-god

On the steep cliff, skimming on the down-

Drafts, clawing the river where ice breaks

Against the bluffs, the winter eagles fish,

The fish caught again and again in the net

Of snow-light, ice-light, glinting against their

Silver sides in the dark water, year after year

This revenant revelation older than we have

Any word for, how the eagles simply take it

On faith, coming to this place they are born

Knowing, following their hunger, singing it

Now in the one keening word, ancient song.