I DID NOT KNOW YOU WERE A RIVER

Not the fast-raging kind with whitewater
rapids and danger, but a slow-moving stream
that pulled us along.

We didn’t know you were the quiet center,
the meeting place, the mirror,
because you lived so softly,
hid yourself like a secret
too humble to claim its shine.

Only now, in your absence,
do we feel the banks collapse,
a dry ache in the chest,
a lostness where your current used to run.

We needed your love like water.
We did not know you were a river.

Suzanna C. de Baca is a native Iowan, proud Latina, advisor, author and artist who is passionate about exploring change and transformation. Her poetry has been published widely in national and international literary magazines, journals and anthologies. She is the recipient of the Derick Burleson Poetry Award and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She lives in the rural town of Huxley, Iowa, population 4244.