come on in, the water's fine

you wouldn't call it a cesspool because some of it's clean as rain and and some parts are littered, but only with the best smelling flowers or are infused with fruits slowly turning this body of water into wine. fermentation's bounty aside, some places are past their prime, vingar turning everything sour, and other's smell like the hudson and you know whose been there and where they've been. you know what THEY left in the water. you wonder...is that catching? should I wear a wetsuit? and, hell, why did they come here, down the riverside, to throw cigarette butts in and leer at the bathers and to toss rocks, bigger and bigger, in a dangerous game that seemed like fun but is now making everyone feel increasingly uneasy. I guess you invited them, they were the life of the party once upon a time, but they kept forgetting to cart out their trash and they always bring unwelcome guests, now you are resenting their company, more and more, despite the joy they occasionally bring. and a few people, despite all the misleading road signs you intentionally mounted, well, they came to play too. they don't do any real harm. hell, they don't do anything, but they always seem to be in the way when you want to use the rope swing and sometimes they absent mindedly forget to tie it up at the top so the next person can use it without having to go way the hell down to set up a good jump. but thats just how some things go. and there are others. beaming in the sun and they make the water that much more glorious, the deeper they wade. their very beauty matches the majsety of their surrounding. their kindness confounds a community of green eyed monsters and ingreateful naysayers. and they brought a picnic for everyone and they've figured out how to strain some of the waters and use the waste for composte and now their new trees blooming. you come to this waterside time and time again because it's where you live and you have no choice and you hope that no one makes a mistake they can't unmake and wonder if some of this mess will go down stream and hope that some of this mess will go down stream and ponder, in the end, if it all comes out in the wash.