The Lake
                               by SHADE O THE PAST
.
Standing by a lake one late afternoon,
before coming of dark and the rise of the moon,
while ripples on the surface responded to flowing air,
I pondered the waves with contemplative care.
.
Each wave seemed to be a shard of reflective glass
which depicted a memory that now was in my past,
but before each memory was totally revealed,
the wave would smooth and the facet would be concealed.
.
In awed contemplation I passed an hour or more
standing there in silence upon that sharded lake's shore
and, with passing time, it became clear to me,
that the lake and my life were cast in similarity.
.
The surface was smooth with little turmoil seen within
but invariably there were waves that were cast by the wind,
and it was external actions that created the highs and lows
like the waves that are created by the wind where it blows.
.
I, like the lake, had seemed stable deep within
and only my surface appeared blown by the wind
but the shards had only smoothed and seemed to rescind
as they receded from my surface and were concealed below my skin
.
               © 2000 Shade