Rowing on a Lake

ROWING ON A LAKE

Chill breezes ruffle restful waters.
Thick clouds dissemble a dome above.
As we leave shore a lone gull cries,
Brave white high-riding over grey.

Green ripples push against the prow.
Thin in sinuous, far prayer for fish,
A cormorant gives grace unto
The comic bobbing of a buoy.

With tiny drops in sudden multitudes,
Thin rain, grey-misting distance, patters patterns
Of restless, growing rings upon
The shattered surface of the lake.

We row toward land and sheltering trees
And beach on dark-grained sand and trudge
To the centre of the centre island
And come upon the black shape of a dredge.

So seeing the heart of the lake invaded,
We shrug and turn back to return
And row across rain-bubbled waters
Back to the streets from which we came;

Back to the buildings and the buses,
Back to the shops and highway noise.
Away, away, we leave but carry
In image: water, earth, and sky.