I have been both—
the steadfast mountain wife,
rooted deep in vows and soil,
weathering storms with arms around my love,
quiet in the knowing.
And I have been the river—
hungry for movement,
slipping away in dreams,
seduced by what glimmers downstream,
yearning for something unnamed.
I used to think I had to choose.
To be still or to be free,
to guard or to wander,
to anchor or to chase the moon.
But then I saw how
the river shapes the mountain’s foot,
and the mountain cradles the river’s wild rush.
How one defines the other—
not by force,
but by touch,
and time.
And I thought of my marriage,
how she holds me when I flow too fast,
and I ground her when the world feels too loud.
Neither of us fixed.
Neither of us lost.
A river-mountain,
a mountain-river,
one body, one love,
learning to be both.
© Susie Stiles-Wolf