Strange Contrast Poem by Tom Billsborough

Some thirty years have passed
Since I last went to Koblenz
And leaned out from the battlements
Of the town's protective Fortress.
They call it Ehrenbreitstein
Which overlooks the confluence of the
Mosel and the Rhine..
The pale and pristine waters
Of the river down from Trier
Contrasted to dark, dank Rhine
With industrial waste to bear.
For many hundred yards the two streams
Side by side refused to join together,
It was a weird sight
The Mosel on the left bank
The Rhine upon the right.
The narrow stripe so pure
The wider one distressed
Until the mingling waters
Became a single mess.
Much has been achieved since then
In cleaning up the Rhine
But that amazing image
Remains forever in my mind.