I said, “Walk slow through the shallow parts Or you’ll scare the fish away” You nodded hard beside me Like every word deserved to stay I showed you where the frogs hide cool Beneath the roots along the bank How to cup your hands around them gentle Without giving them a fright You looked at me like I knew everything Standing there knee-deep in June But I was mostly just remembering Who once showed these things to me I taught you how to turn a river stone Without crushing what lives underneath How tadpoles gather in the warm pools Where the current weakens speed How to tell which plants sting your fingers Which ones smell sharp when torn And how the creek keeps feeding life Long after storms are born I pointed out the water striders Skating weightless on the skin Said, “Some things survive by barely touching The world they’re living in” I showed you crawdad tunnels in the mud Flathead minnows in the shade How sycamore roots hold the bank together So the rain don’t wash away You asked me why the moss grows thicker On the side that shuns the sun I said, “Everything leans toward survival Even things too small to run” You listened close beside me Quiet as the creek itself Like the woods were handing knowledge down From something older than us both I taught you how to read the water Dark means deep and light means stone How to spot the places fish will gather By the way the surface folds How frogs sing louder before rainfall How dragonflies patrol the heat And how every living thing down here Depends on something else to eat One day I won’t be beside you Turning rocks along the bend But maybe you’ll still hear my voice In the water moving then Maybe you’ll kneel beside your own child Pointing toward a leopard frog Teaching them the names of living things The way my father taught me once Down in the creek beneath the sycamores With mud drying on our skin I wasn’t teaching you survival So much as how to belong within Because the world will try to pull you Far from quiet, far from roots But the creek will still be waiting To remind you what is true
