"Upriver

- To Albert Faille

of the Nahanni"

by John Dalle-Molle

There's a man

on the way upriver

he's going far

to where no one knows

mean danger

to most

for the old man

they sing

his back is arched

by years on tracking line

fingers curled

from paddle and pole

eyes squinted

by river glare

cheeks chasmed

from canyon winds.

of wildness

bring a zest

to brittle bones

a glow

to oft-froze cheeks.

old man

we fear for you"

but friends' pleas

go unheard

when the awe-full

current calls

"so I leave

my bones upriver

it's a good place

to die

as it's been

to live."

The canyon walls

drop to hell

for some

but the old man

sees them frame

joy-bright skies

of uncontaminated

blues and whites.

The glacier-floured current

murky and tricky

many think

Some say

it's gold

the old man seeks

but we who've been there

know it's not

no money-lusted rock

brings brightness

to those eyes

as the free flowing

river does

when breakup

finds the taste

pure and fresh

sees his image

in those depths

for with the river

he is one

free

in wilderness.

opens the way

for wandering.

Reprinted with permission from "North" v. XVI, #5, Sept. - Oct., 1969

and the family of John Dalle-Molle.