I discovered the lake that summer
Deliberately arriving to see stars at midnight
Reflecting like white diamonds
In silken waters
I heard the crickets
Familiar, comforting sound
Lulled me to sleep as a child
Like a soft, summer rain
Under lacy pines nodding in the wind
Lake responded calmly to questions
With answers slow, no hurry to move
Confined by a barricade of sand
And wily weeds
Lake whispered peaceful
Songs of night while
Lapping on the shore
Winged creatures whisked around
Interrupting the reverie
Shining in the silvery glow
Cast by the heavenly court
I no longer hear
The crickets
Is that why I no longer
Sleep
Complicated stories now
To unravel
Strange tales now
To weave
But look beyond the horizon
Wait for the break of dawn—
For a lake song still sings tales
And imparts a timeless wisdom.
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© Prasanta July, 2016
*Author’s Note: I was inspired to write this after reading “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by William Butler Yeats. Here it is below:
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The Lake Isle of Innisfree
By William Butler Yeats
I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.
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