Five Ways to Cross a Lake

~ Candace

Five ways to Cross a Lake

 

1 sit on the edge of the old wooden dock

with your toes dangling in the water

until you feel nothing

but the ancient ice that

is slowly melting

 

2 let your eye find the red

eye of a loon as it glides past

as if pulled by a string –

hidden feet walking under

the choppy surface

 

3 cast your heart out as far as

 its tether allows and watch it sink

below the surface. Hold your breath

until it bobs back to the surface,

then slowly reel it in

 

4 put your thoughts on a leaf and let

them float away to become yellow hills

on the pebbled beach of your mind-

each one smoothed by the careless

touch of the waves

 

5 catch the wind as it pushes the water

to another time and place and then meet

it on the way back. Write it into a poem

that soars above the clouds and

touches down on some distant shore

 

 

 

 

MTB: Writing The Five Directions

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Published by Candace

I am a reader, a writer, and a snapper of photos

11 thoughts on “Five Ways to Cross a Lake”

  3. This poem reminds me a lot of where I live, Candy, near the Norfolk Broads, interconnecting rivers and man-made lakes. We have wooden docks at the bottom of our garden, so I can imagine this all so well. I felt myself drift away as I read it! I especially enjoyed letting my eye ‘find the red / eye of a loon as it glides past / as if pulled by a string’ and putting my ‘thoughts on a leaf and let / them float away’.

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  5. et your eye find the red

    eye of a loon as it glides past

    as if pulled by a string –

    This reminded me of the “loons” (we call them divers) in the lakes and bays of north west Scotland. Yes to that smooth gliding!

    Love the yellow hills of thought-leaves gathered on the pebbly shore. Such a rich feast of both detail and perspective. Thank you for sharing your mind’s eye and your heart’s rhythm, Candy

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