The River

"Charity" in the recent poem posting, "When Charity Began Up-river", was/is, the name of a settlement, on the banks of the
Pomeroon river, I grew up on, in the countryside of Guyana. Quite a few of the inhabited spots along this wide river, had names of this ilk, like, "Hope and Charity",and "New Endeavour", invoking biblical virtues or hope for the future prospects of
places so named. In my childhood, along with a scattering of subsistence farms, on its banks, there were long stretches that were unpopulated, but with shores over run by thick mangrove forests...which in their dark mysteriousness...fostered many stories about the other worldly entities said to exist on the river, such as, the di di, massacuruman, fair maid, jumbie, and old heig...along with the alligators, sting rays, pirai [a version of the pirhana], water boa-constrictors, [sometimes thirty feet in length]. smaller snakes, and other dangerous flesh and blood species, living in its depths and shallows. Paddling in a dug out canoe, its gunwales only an inch or two above the water, sometimes cafe au lait in colour, sometimes dark, alone as a child, and once in a while in the night, bred a sharpened awareness of your surroundings, at all times. One way or another, this river played a large part in shaping me, especially in being aware of the beauty and the danger of the natural world, and the
respect you needed to have for it, in appreciating it, and in order to survive in it, or on its banks. Whereas, a human being
propped up by the resources available in a large city, could live for a long time "faking it", on the river, there was no such
hiding place available. This fostered self sufficiency...finding creative solutions to problems that arose, and an active
imagination, un-dulled by taking in the pablum that non-existent television sets, would have provided. This river...continues
to run through my life...although so much time has passed since then...As they say...you can take the boy out of the river...
but you can't take the river out of the boy.........Quester.