~ The River Before ~
A Brook With an Uncertain Source Near the River Rea in Ten Acres
Rising Water
This is a confused little waterway. In the past, it was a tiny, unimposing brook which flowed along the edge of a field boundary after emerging near the old footpath. It turned sharply at a right angle, or had perhaps been encouraged to do so. The line it followed was the corner of the field. Before it had any chance to get to know itself the little runnel met the Rea, becoming one of the shorter waters serving that river. Barely a brook, it probably never had a name.
It is confused because, when the route of the river was moved, a decision was made for the Rea to follow part of the little trickle's channel. All of a sudden, its last leg was a river - and it didn't seem to know what to do.
Part of its channel survives, but sometimes it seems to flow in two directions at once, its route to the Rea now seemingly cut off. Occasionally it is only a muddy trench, reminded of its brookish self only when the rain falls. It holds the shape of what it was - a brook, a field boundary - as if trying to remember its way.
