The summer heat sets in as whispy whims of white melt into the azure sky
The clip-clap of worn rubber soles trembles upon the seemingly unearthed forest paths
Pebbles shake as an unfamiliar life invades their serene and placid home
Menacing trees stand their guard as leaves form crown tops,
Royalty protecting nature’s hidden roots
A bubbling laughter penetrates the calming air,
Echoing into non-existence
The grass shakes as to try to decipher their words,
But then in an instant the two girls pass on
To fallen twigs and flowers,
Flying natives seem to soar through their terrain,
With swift sleek steps and glides that make blades of dirt dance and quiver
Until the sound stops
The grass stands unmoved
The dirt returns unblemished
And the rubber soles rest upon the boulder’s crackling terrace
They rest,
Sitting on a worn wooden bench
Containing crevices of character, warmth, and tales
Of travelers
Of nature
Of life
Their whispers begin to once again permeate and encompass the silent afternoon,
As the leveled water scorches without the tree’s protection from the sun
And all too soon a daffodil perches high above a leaping hill,
Stiffly waiting as one rises as the sun at dawn
Slowly she reaches her peak and looks down below
What looks back is years,
And years
Of unknown,
And disregarded
Insecurities
Envy to be something
Unattainable,
And the secret that she’s been
Hiding
And the expectations that accumulate like metal tacks in the land mines of
An inner soul
But with that leap she soon descends
Closing her eyes to the cool and flourishing drops
That envelope and entrap her skin
Fully submerged under the water
She grabs a rock from beneath
Quickly rising for the hope of familiar air
Not ready to face the depths below
Scaling out of the lake, and onto the rocky shore,
A quick smirk to forget the passing moment
The sun soon startles them with purple hues
It’s time to return,
Escape from the black night and cold
While the first runs off, the second for a moment waits
Glaring at the water that seemed to remind her of all her fears,
Of all her wishings
Of all her past
And with the strength she slowly unfurls her hand
Revealing the pebble snatched from the water’s depths
And with a stroke it plummets
Into the lake
Into the dark
Creating enlarging ringlets that pound the reflecting surface as the
Perfect circles crash against the rocks and,
Spit back distorted shapes of squares and pentagons, like a slashed spider web
And in an instant the peace returns
And the water calms
And the girl runs away to continue,
And to forget
But as each day dawns,
And the girl grows
No longer young
And what appears as trivial moments flee her mind
At a spot where the trees don’t roam and reign
The lake’s reflection remains the same