River

I sit by a mighty river, born of glaciers far above. The hills rise around me cloaked in pine and fir. The very air has spirit, crisp, invigorating, filling me with an emotion I cannot describe. The river crashes and tumbles through rapids downstream,that churn its blue green waters into white foam. And then it calms down, becoming idyllic, a peaceful mass of turquoise and lapis lazuli. Cliffs rise around it far ahead, blocks of mountain eroded by the river. Her banks are a sheet of soft white sands that catch the sun and sparkle. I step onto the rocks by her edge, warmed by the sun, watching her flow by me. Once, I rafted in this river. I drop a leaf, the color of sunset into her waters and watch it being carried away.
Beyond rise the mountains that gave birth to her, their summits cloaked in snow.
As she flows she will come to civilization. And her waters will no more be pure.

 I think of another river, so large, so expansive that you might mistake her for a lake.So deep that she bore dolphins. Her waters were the purest, and she was worshiped for it, believed to cleanse the sins of whoever bathed in her. But then there came a time that she was given impurity beyond her capacity to cleanse. Her worship turned into a curse for her. She is yet revered. Her powers prevent her from becoming like the rivers of my city, so bogged down by human decadence that they can barely be called rivers anymore.