dead still morning
we're filled

something
approaches we know

step from the plank edge empty
flat-boat ferry
rough cut raw junk-wood
re-used nails                               some bent

looking out

seven white stupas
glare and glint of distant copper roof
mountains walking along the water

crisp air intake
breath in warm sun
old Brahmaputra's* silent rumble
break-quiet chugging
black soot ferry engine

why one morning
keeps returning after all

sudden engine cut-out
slow grinding silence                   stuck on a sandbar

                               drifting

                               in place

how the mind enters a river-boil
        deep things below

_____________
* The Brahamaputra is a river, about 1800 miles in length, which flows from the Himalayas in Tibet to the Ganges Delta in E. India.