Rio Grande Borderlands, Big Bend National Park

The river occupies a between space moving calmly along its blue-green channel. An occasional sand bar forms in the lazy current. This Rio Grande divides two lands, two languages, two ways of seeing and believing. Its meandering liquid line separates the sandy far bank from the stout grasses of the near bank. Traces of past lives trail barren imprints on the far side, while on the near side the turf grasps a millennia of soil in a rooted grip that shelters a riot of present life. Between these worlds lies the secrets of the universe. The living, the dead, and the watery sustenance of the Rio Grande follow a winding course to distant seas. ♨