Springtime and the melting have begun in the north. The water trickles down to streams. From streams it flows into creeks. The creeks take the overabundance of their water into the Mighty Mississippi River. Big Muddy will take what it can and disgorge it into the Gulf of Mexico.

the water up there
is swiftly flowing down south
where it will flood towns

That will be a blessed relief at last, that the water has somewhere to go that can hold it. Before that can happen, however, if this melting is anything like past history, there will be hell to pay along the way. As the rushing water rushes residents along the way pull out brand new sandbags trying to hold it back. Sandbagging hardly ever works. You wonder why they keep trying.

the flood water's here
man fighting the water back
no use, it's no use

As we celebrate a mass killer's demise in Pakistan it appears the river wants to celebrate too. With powerful currents, rippling brown water steals lives' livelihood. Crops just planted, cattle stranded because of different reason, all washed away by the rising water, if history can be trusted. It usually can if we but just heed it.

an omen o'er all
the river's ghosts of times past
chortles as they watch

In this hour of nature's might against puny man's to hold his own the Army Corps blew a big hole in a levee up there. Huh? Yeah, that's right, blew a hole so the water wouldn't rush into Cairo, Illinois. Folks on the downside to the hole are frantic that the muddy will get them instead. That's what I heard. Save one bunch of people, let the other sink or swim.

man against nature
with all his technology
and her awesomeness

Too early to tell. Water's on its way. We shall see. We shall see. Come on, do what you have to do and leave. We'll survive. Always have, always will. One curious thing. Why continue to build along the river when you know you have a pretty good chance of getting wiped out every five years or so? Probably the same reason folks build near an airport and bitch about the noise.

its up to her now
what's the river's gonna do
it won't be pretty