[column]Ice Flow

Nature’s alchemy transforms;
Her swirling science, rhythmic motions;
The rivers flow, freeze, crack,
Shift, then melt again.
Water, both precious and plentiful,
A living symbol that enables life,
Coursing through the heart of the city.

Sinuous, languid fluidity changes state,
Vitality and motion now stilled
For this season, it seems. Frigid, solid,
Translucent and smooth like glass,
Mystical and temporal winter medium.

Ice floes, fractured crystalline plates,
Move tectonically and, in spring,
The persistent dynamic pushes shards
Opposing rocks, shorlines, docks, bridge piers.
The river’s icy carapace shoulders up
Against an immoveable edge,
Our human intervention,
A dam, a device, an interruption,
Tilting up to form a void,
A shield from the imperious elements,
From blades of wind.

Beneath the Assiniboine’s frozen surface
The perpetual current is invisible, yet,
Spirited energy is harnessed and transformed
Into glowing light,
Warming us drawn together,
In the chill night.[/column]