The sky fell
In a wet spring
And the creek roared
With clear rainwater
Sluicing down the many ways
Dancing over the rocks
And the rain came on
Into May, when the heat first rose
On into June
And the creek still ran
Down in the canyon
Below the thundering cars
Clear rainwater
Filling the cracks and fissures
Priming the springs
People in kayaks and tubes
People just swimming and floating in the stream
Braving the rocky run
Tumbling over the waterfalls
Small but violent with strong waters
I saw one group of young men in tubes
Laughing and wild
Towing an ice chest
Surely full of beer
They tumbled over cherry falls
The last man, the one with the chest in tow
Capsized in a foaming explosion
At the base of the falls
But he came up laughing still
Righted his craft, secured the cargo
And floated on to join his fellows
July came, Texas heat searing the land
And the creek still flowed
Buoyed by rainy days, here and there
Finally, in the dead heat of August
The rain stopped, and the creek died
We walked by dwindling pools
The last water holes
And in every one
(Five we counted in a row)
A snake swam
After the fish and water creatures
Trapped in the drying pools
The long reptiles hunted
Carefully we skirted the edges of pools
Watching the snakes swim
Marveling at all of it
At last, the creek dried to nothing
White rocks like bones showing
Dead for a time
Yet full of the promise of life
In the mud and under the stones
Sleeping, surviving in the heat
Ready to live again
When the first cold fronts of fall
Bring rain to the canyon once more