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Rivers have a way of making me stop and listen. Water whispers around some stones, tumbles over others, then rushes ahead with a rhythm all its own. I once thought the stones interrupted the river’s music. Now I know each one gives it another note to sing. |
Why This River Stayed With Me
Hi there.
Join me and lets the river carry us for a while.
The feel of a river has touched me for as long as I can remember. Flowing water has a way of holding my attention until everything else seems to grow quiet. I can sit on the bank for ages just listening. A river never seems to make only one sound. It whispers through the shallows, chatters over little pebbles, tumbles around rocks, then suddenly grows louder where the current quickens. A little further on, it can become beautifully calm again.
I love those changing rhythms.
Sometimes they settle me into a deep sense of peace; other times, the rush and tumble of the water makes me feel completely alive. The longer I listen, the more I hear inside it—little splashes, ripples, murmurs and rushing currents, each with a rhythm of its own, yet all belonging to the same river.
Perhaps that’s why rivers feel so much like poetry to me. Their rhythms change, certain sounds return, and one moment flows naturally into the next. When I began writing Every Stone Changed the Song, I knew I wanted it to be a lyrical poem. I wanted the words to have their own current, with repeating lines and changing rhythms that might let you hear a little of the river while you read.
The poem began with something simple I noticed: every stone changes the water. Some barely disturb it. Others stand directly in its path. But the river doesn’t stop being a river because something is in its way. It slips over it, curls around it, finds its way between it—and each encounter creates another sound.
At first, I thought the river was making its beautiful music despite the stones.
Then I realised the stones were part of the music.
That thought stayed with me.
I think our lives can be a little like that too. Not everything that changes our path has to take something away from us. Some experiences change our rhythm. Some change our direction. And some become part of us in ways we may not understand until much later.
Maybe that’s one of the reasons I love rivers so much.
They keep moving, they keep changing, and somehow they make music from everything they meet.
Every Stone Changed the Song
I found the river humming
where the willow shadows lay,
silver slipping over pebbles,
carrying the light away.
I listened from the grassy bank
to water soft and low,
a thousand little notes becoming
one I almost seemed to know.
Then every stone changed the song—
a ripple here, a rushing there,
a sudden splash against the silence,
a trembling rhythm in the air.
Still the river carried on,
never asking stones to move,
finding something new to sing
in every turn it travelled through.
I followed where the current quickened,
where quiet water learned to leap,
where rocks broke open shining ribbons
before they gathered, clear and deep.
Some made the river whisper.
Some made the river roar.
Some barely touched its melody,
then sent it somewhere more.
And every stone changed the song—
each one gave the water sound,
little rhythms born from places
where the river could not go around.
Still it never lost its music,
never left a note behind;
it simply made a different song
from everything it chanced to find.
I dipped my fingers in the current
and felt it hurry through my hand.
For a moment I was listening
to something I could understand.
Maybe I have stones before me.
Maybe some are still to come.
Maybe every broken rhythm
doesn’t mean the song is done.
So I stayed beside the river
until daylight softened gold,
hearing all those changed directions
become a music of their own.
And every stone changed the song—
but not one could make it end.
The water turned each interruption
into somewhere new to begin.
I thought the river sang despite them,
as it carried me along.
But beneath the evening willow,
I finally heard it—
every stone
had made
the song.
— Khalia Wildawn 🌼
There’s more I’d love to share with you.
Where Would You Like to Go Next?
🌿 Back to Where It All Begins
Come back to my home among the wild and see what else is waiting to be discovered - Home
🌼 Come Get to Know Me
There’s more to me than the poems I write. I’d love to tell you a little about who I am and the things that make me, me - Hello, I’m Khalia
🪶 Discover the Heart Behind My Poetry
Nature makes me wonder, smile, ache, question and feel alive. Come discover how those feelings find their way into my words - Why I Write