the accusation

green meadow, golden leaves in the foreground, river invisible in the background, a black calf peering up at the camera
here’s looking at you
This river sits sluggish in its bed,
as if cold was thickening its water;
autumn colours shine slick, oily on
its slow surface as I stoop to find
my reflection in its empty soul.
And there is nothing; nothing but vast
emptiness, nothing but the broken
spirit of a land, this land, misused.