Creekside, helpless

Alone I sit beside a tree
Which sits beside a creek.
A lonely man stares back at me:
He looks, but does not speak.

Relieved, I nod in thanks to him,
His silence is a gift.
When he nods back, I grab a limb,
Release it, watch it drift.

It's journey is my focus now;
My new friend? Left behind.
I watch the twig with furrowed brow.
Our fates are intertwined.

It floats, gets caught in rocks, then, free,
Is sent over a fall
I run beside, trip, scrape my knee;
I search for what I saw

I wait beyond the dam's short drop
For my stick to emerge.
I squint into the stream, then stop.
It must still be submerged.

I sigh, and before I return
Look upward toward the sky
Thus, missed it safely leave the churn
Yes, that's a nice, fine lie.

A twig that I did not see crushed
Must still be floating, see?
I think this and my friend (still hushed)
Shrugs sadly back at me.

Falling, In Love

Falling quickly to the ground,
Alone, with no one near.
Is it a leaf, I have found?
No, though many are here.

Maybe falling rays of light:
A sunset in the sky.
As the evening turns to night,
I see that too, and sigh

Yet still there is another fall:
Not leaves, nor a sunset.
Is it my own soul's helpless call?
I could speak ... no, not yet.

The three falls discussed above
As real as they may be.
Are not like your falls of love,
Climbing to Calvary.