Laden with thoughts,
like ripened fruit
heavily hanging
upon bent boughs
memories weigh
and must somehow
attain release
from the tree
that is my mind.
Still and quiet
contemplating
I gaze at this lake,
named " Crystal"
here, at a park in
Urbana, Illinois.
Reflecting on
the significance
of this place to me,
redolent with so many
childhood memories
of sleigh rides
and ice skating,
playing on the swings.
And later,
remembrances
of high school,
just " hanging out"
with friends...
while more recently,
the fresh memories
of fishing with my husband
and romps with our Labrador.
I ponder too,
about the water itself,
this mystery and miracle
so seemingly unchanging
a constant,
the nourisher of life
a nourisher of memories also,
memories that can span generations-
of grandparents, parents and grandchildren.
This small ecosystem
what has it taught me?
The water- always replenishing
a perfect example of,
nature's dance,
the perpetual spin
of cyclic rhythms...
and the continuance
of evaporation, rain, ice and snow
Am I all that different?
I realize
that I too,
like all things
am forever turning,
that there will be lean years
as well as times for renewal.
And I hope that when I
no longer exist,
that my poems
become a remnant
and are preserved
so that some future reader
someday,
somewhere,
will nod and whisper,
" Yes, I understand."
For then,
the circle
that has been my life
can be complete.