Over the Water

Movement I
The fish's sentry,
Yet man's heedless gatekeeper
A foot in two worlds.
Lake-rotten wood arms
Rise from their watery grave,
Preserving the bridge.
A hoarder of vistas,
Dawns of gold and dusks of dark,
With hush omniscience
Until weed and wave
Erode, splinter by splinter,
The dock stands, resolved.

Movement II
Dew-painted lotus,
Riding the nights dying breath,
Greets an amber dawn
Pearls resting among
Verdant lily pad forests
Home to bustling bugs.
Sun tears, gold to gray,
Cloudbursts second to blooms of
Solemn endurance.
Iv'ry petals glow,
Dancing beneath the moon and
A river of stars.

Movement III
The first wind of spring
Twirls the lotus on her toe
Over breaks of blue.
The dock gapes, bewitched
By her summer grace, and she
His wholehearted gaze.
For her, all his eyes.
For him, a thousand waltzes
Across autumn's drapes.
Petals kissed by ice
Adorn his winter suit
To bid him her farewell.

~E