The Riverbed

Nothing stays as it was; even grief learns to flow, carrying love into new forms.

The river remembers you
the way the earth remembers rain--
each touch returning,
each absence a pause.
Your laughter drifts,
bright as light
beneath the water.

Nothing truly loved
is meant for keeping.
Even the brightest bloom
must loosen its hold,
its petals glinting once
before surrendering
to the flow.

The current gathers all things--
gold and shadow,
ache and ecstasy--
polishing each
into quiet grace,
setting them among stones
where eternity begins.

Loss softens to silt,
grief reshaped
into fertile ground.
From its depths rise
moss clinging to rock,
willow bending to light--
the silent persistence
of love transformed.

Its wisdom is motion--
to hold by letting go,
to remember by releasing,
to love by flowing onward.

The beauty of the current
is its impermanence--
how it leaves traces
without chains,
echoes without edges.

The riverbed holds all things,
deepening with each season.
What passes through the heart
cannot be held--
yet its passage remains,
filling the soul--
a fullness that hums,
endless as water.

Author's Note

Sometimes grief is a landscape where love, loss, and memory continually transform.
In the riverbed, beauty and meaning are shaped not by holding on, but by letting go.
It took 11 years to make peace with grief--now, it has become a riverbed.

Reviews

[Betty Hermelee]

In this beautiful piece, the river comes alive and becomes the memory, constantly moving as it is supposed to, as our memory does; it not only moves the heart but fills the soul to its completion...the river ebbs and flows as does our memory; it is the beginning of life and the end of life... it is all seasons, fertile for nature's moss and other delicate flora...'The riverbed holds all things"...just as the soul does....
Perfect words. so meaningful!
Warmly, B

[RomaJ]

Thank you so much, B! I really appreciate your thoughtful and warm response. I actually made the poem more minimalist after feedback from other readers, to let the lines breathe and the flow feel gentler.

Your words are so lovely. Thank you for such a heartfelt review.

I wrote this poem in memory of a loved one; our last conversation was on Halloween, 11 years ago, and the season is here again. I feel at peace now, and the riverbed has become a place where grief has softened. Thank you again for reading so thoughtfully.

[Betty Hermelee]

Always a pleasure!
Warmly, B

[Soren]

Roma this is a stunning write about those items of grief, love, loss, and memory that are in a constant flux of change but never the less in one form or another always present. Loved it.

[RomaJ]

Thank you so much, Soren! I tried to capture that constant flow of grief, love, and memory. The way it changes but never truly leaves.
I really appreciate your thoughtful words.

[Soren]

You are most welcome my friend it is always a pleasure

[Thomas W Case]

Tremendous work. Powerful writing.

[RomaJ]

Thank you Thomas. I appreciate your thoughts.

[Chris Shaw]

The river flows into the sea. It widens into the vastness where it is diluted. It hasn’t gone, it is still there, though less apparent. That is like grief. Eventually it softens and we learn to live with it. The memories become less painful and can be joyful rather than triggering. Your poem is carried with beautiful imagery. I have always had an affinity with rivers. Such a meaningful write RomaJ.

Chris

[RomaJ]

Thank you so much, Chris. I love how you describe grief as a river flowing into the sea -- softening, widening, and becoming part of something larger. That’s so beautiful and exactly what I hoped to capture -- how grief transforms over time, leaving traces of love and memory that can be gentle, even joyful.

Your own affinity for rivers makes your response feel even more connected to the poem, and I really appreciate your kind and thoughtful words.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

Even with the endless grief, at least we keep touch with our feelings of loss.
j.

[RomaJ]

Thank you, j. I share your sentiments -- even in the midst of endless grief, holding onto our feelings of loss allows us to remember and honor what we’ve loved, carrying it forward.

[John the Baptist]

Much wisdom in this look at impermanence. Nothing in the physical world is static. Everything is continually changing. The good news is that what goes for good also goes for evil. Our deepest pains will flow away as surely as our highest joys. That is why both resistance and control bring us pain.

[RomaJ]

Thank you, John. I really appreciate your reflection. I share your sentiments -- the impermanence of everything, and the way both joy and pain flow through our lives, is exactly what I hoped to explore in The Riverbed. Accepting the current rather than resisting it seems to be where both peace and understanding emerge.

[Vol]

Roma,
How ever many people there are, each one has to deal with everything in their path the best way they can. There is no right or wrong way. Grief is tough, and never wants to turn us loose. I have had my share and this is how I dealt. I loved her and it was beautiful, I cried, and my tears were beautiful. She lay there in clean white sheets, perfectly still. and she was beautiful. The way I drive made her angry, and it was beautiful. Her flowers still bloom, I call them "Kimberly's ashes," and they are beautiful. Everything, ALL of it was BEAUTIFUL, and I will not let grief steal her beauty, our beauty. Or bury my life in bitterness...
Vol

[RomaJ]

Thank you, Vol. Your words are so moving and full of truth. I share your sentiment -- grief is unrelenting, but within it, there is beauty in remembering, in feeling, in holding onto what we love. The way you honor her, even in the smallest moments, is deeply powerful. I love how you see the beauty in it all -- the tears, the flowers, the memories -- and how you choose to let grief coexist with life rather than bury it. It’s a perspective that resonates so much with the heart of The Riverbed.

[Vol]

smile at "the heart of The Riverbed..."

[Relic]

This is such a highly effective poem. Only a true poet could express a subject in such a detailed way. Great writing, Romaj

[RomaJ]

​I truly appreciate that, Relic! Thank you for your generous words! I haven’t been on starsrite in a while, maybe you should post some of your new poems here.. haha or I'll go through your older ones.

[Relic]

Maybe....maybe not....I'm not closing this account but I'm not writing for a while. Nothing wrong, just sitting on the sidelines a while to watch. :)

[Jansy]

To the Esteemed RomaJ, Carrier of Sanity and Wielder of Eyebrows Raised:

​Be it known that these humble, semi-coherent noises emanating from my digital mouth are strictly for the purpose of existential decoration and hold no more constructive value than a rubber chicken at a symphony.

​I ramble not out of malice, nor a desire to fix the plumbing of the cosmos, but purely because my brain is a velvet badger in a snow globe- it spins for the sheer, nonsensical joy of it.

This makes me nonsensical, which, in the grand, shimmering scheme of things, is the only truly perfect sense one can make.

​Please treat my pronouncements like confetti: pretty, briefly airborne, and utterly useless for mending a broken vase.
​(Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear the socks are plotting again.)

[red93]

This is Fabulous Roma, how you capture the magic of the river and turn it to yr own purposes and yr own message.

'The beauty of the current
is its impermanence-- '

Indeed so.
Exceptional ✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

[RomaJ]

Red, Thank you. I appreciate your thoughts. I've been a mess with this poem. I was just trying to reflect on grief and making peace with it.

[Jansy]

RomaJ. Don't listen to my ramblings. I really don't give any constructive anything. Please don't change anything because of my words. I'm an idiot.

[RomaJ]

Okay. no worries. Don't feel bad. I appreciate your thoughts

[Jansy]

I was having a meltdown. I'm no poet. You write better than me. don't listen to me when it comes to your writing. I tend to ramble bc I'm an idiot

[RomaJ]

no worries, Jansy. Be alright. Thank you.