The Bridge Is Gone

(Saint Louis River / Flood of 2012)

for my father

Before the flood, who could have known?
And now it's done. Dad! The Swinging Bridge!
It's gone! I always knew, I wasn't wrong.
I was a child, you were young and strong

when you carried me, the fearful one,
that water roiling just below your shoes.
Dad! The bridge! It swung, and swung! 
My sisters strummed their fingers along

the rungs and sang some made-up song,
while I shut my eyes and clung to your neck,
and clung, and somehow knew: my sisters
had the singing and the river, and I had you.