For Herring River Currents (Friends of Herring River)

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Please come a little closer,
I’m feeble now,
and my voice is weak.

Some tell me that I smell,
And my bottom is slush and sludge.

It wasn’t always this way,
I was something once,
not mighty like the Big Muddy,
or broad like the River Sea.

But in my youth,
a time of many millennia, I might add,
I was full of life.

Swans, herons, ospreys, and ducks all cherished me,
Otters played in my waters,
And fish, oh the fish,
They swam up me to spawn.

People harvested oysters from my depths,
Ships plied my waters
and netted massive loads of fish.

Best of all, I was connected to the great ocean beyond,
twice a day washing in the beautiful salt water.

But while I was still young,
yes, many millennia,
I had a misfortune:
They choked me.

They said it was for my own good,
fewer mosquitoes,
land for houses,
tourists.

But I aged very fast,
My arteries clogged,
I couldn’t cleanse myself,
My fauna and flora friends abandoned me.

They said I was sick,
and could never recover on my own.
I desperately need an operation,

It would be massive,
it would take time,
there would be side effects.

But it will bring back the river I once was,
it will restore my land, water, and spirit,
it will make me whole again.