"And here for the first time in my life I saw my beloved Mississippi River, dry in the summer haze, low water, with its big rank smell that smells like the raw body of America itself because it washes it up"
Jack Kerouac On The Road
I used to think of the Mississippi as Old Man River
Rolling along in that deep bass voice
It was yours when you crossed over
For that stretch of 90 over the bridge
I knew Wisconsin was over the shore
And I was leaving 10,000 lakes behind.
It was the last thing to leave behind
I had already said my goodbyes to the river
We spent hours together on its shore
Even when it couldn’t hear my voice
I sat in its presence on the bridge
As the cars going by only passed over
And the first time I sat with my legs hanging over
The wind came from behind
I was going to be blown from the bridge
And all I could do was watch the people on the river
The clicks of their cameras made their voices
But they couldn’t see anything from the shore
There was a time when I felt your shore
When that feeling of everything being over
And all I wanted was to hear your voice
I heard you tell me not just to leave it behind
I couldn’t appreciate the river
Until I saw everything from the bridge
Now the car rattles over the bridge
And litter is left on the shore
People’s baggage floats on the river
And all I do is pass over
Hoping that I leave it behind
So I can only hear the sound of my own voice
Its times like these I miss your voice
And being the one on your bridge
You must know I left it all behind
I stopped once more on your shores
And when I looked over
I saw Wisconsin on the other side of the river
So I look behind me for the voice
cross the river by the bridge
And my times on the shore are over
