Trivia

Three rivers crossed in ancient Rome

(And cross now here today,)

One was fraught with rock and foam,

rapids, whorls and fray.

Carrying naught but twigs and planks

Men died of thirst along its banks.

The second stream ran slow and wide,

And a turtle's toe in depth.

Though commerce came in at high tide

The merchants never left.

Fishing from the delta flourished,

Though only worms were ever nourished.

The third course, though, was navigated,

Cargo carried from peak to plain.

The captains who sailed her proudly stated

"The stars we follow blind remain."

The river ran deep underground

And fed the others without sound.

The streams that ferry mighty forces

And feed the cascades of invention

Wash borders back out from their sources

And carry forth intention.

But once the water's flow reverses,

New rivers carry different curses.

DISCURSIVE, adj. Following a circular flow.