The title says it all: "Unleveed" describes a river with no banks holding it in, and the poem treats that freedom as both thrilling and unnerving. The opening lines state plainly that the river is too much to be governed by art or order. Neither a poem nor a plan can contain it.
The short middle lines carry the poem's strangest move. The river "riots," then "sits," then "seems easy." Those quick shifts from violence to stillness to calm make the water hard to trust. Its ease feels like a disguise rather than a relief.
The closing image, "unsettled as a crow / in plague time," deepens that unease. A crow is a scavenger, and the phrase suggests a bird alert to danger and loss. The speaker seems watchful rather than triumphant, respecting the river's power while sensing a threat in it. The mood is tense and uncertain, a quiet wariness beneath the surface of the water.