Just Being One With the Sound of My Skates

Just Being One With the Sound of My Skates

Skating on Jenness  Pond 12/17/10*

Rosy glow of sunset and fuzzy three-quarter moon rising

Both reflected on the glossy anthracite transparent ice.

Seeing the underwater rocks and weeds speed by

As if I were a bird, beyond time and space

Speeding effortlessly by

A sudden, sharp crack of ice expanding

Sounding like Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle

Breaks the spell

Causing me to seek safe passage

Around the gushing brook

Where incoming water makes the ice unsafe

Reminding me of my father’s tale

Of the farmer on the hot day in August

Who brought his workhorses here,

Still in harness, to drink.

Who could have guessed,

They would sink in the quick sand,

Never to be seen from again.

Life is precious, Life is short:

How better to celebrate it then

Just being one with the sound of my skates.

XXX

*Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when I was skating this evening. The best substitute I can provide is this photograph I took of an icy puddle in November '07– with a shape similar to Jenness Pond.