Sitting on the Banks of the River

A special B Day gift to me remembering my November visit to India, where we had a reunion with my India based In laws and Portland OR based son and his wife.
We spent part of Thanksgiving day on the Ganges River and passed the holy cremation fire that has been tended to burn continuously for 3000 years(!). The fires are visible on the left side of my gift. On the right side is a photo of the 4 of us under Diwali lights.
My son wrote this:

SITTING ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER

The siren plays her song
Listless oceans churn
thundering waves like a slow drip of heroin

A hug from your mother
A fire in the wind
A child with an hourglass
reaching out for the shore

A setting sun with stories sung in braille
slipping through their fingers

Memories of now flicker
like candles resting on a leaf