The River People

Down here
Everybody says that The River People don't really belong there

I know What it's like to be a stranger and divide a town beside a frontier
People want your business and little more
I've watched shadows lengthen from a close door

Mountains wide
Nothing is clearer to The River People than what the others try and hide
You spoke
Pushed your chair back at the meeting
I could tell that you were petrified
You said the best people can suddenly oppose
The sight of goodwill and then it arose

Two people, four people crossed the floor
I saw children run
I wept amidst the uproar

Now around here
Your stranded face before moonlight
The colour of the sea
You came
Up to the house after swimming on sunset and the flattened sea
The sky had opened it had gone bust
And you and I watched The River People swim before us