Morning Lake Meditation
by Jim Neill
The water’s glassy stillness
was surrounded by a necklace of spring greens.
A morning chill lifted whisps of wetness
swirling counter-clockwise into the day.
Geese stir the surface as they loudly honk their leaving,
and silent men circle the lake anticipating their day
filled with remembrances of being here before.
Remembering their short lives, they begin a ritual
In honor of the parted.
Their tears fall on the dead friend’s footprints.
The stories outweigh the ashes a thousand-fold.
Ashes return to the fire, the bank, and the lake,
To mark the returning to their beginning.
And open hearts lift the departed
counter-clockwise into the day.