When I Catch Sun on Lake Crescent There is a point where I like to linger in the late light Among the arms of a hugging alder. I use my left foot to leverage And perch myself on a limb Not far from the ground beneath her. I cherish course gray modeled skin As wrinkled as an elephant’s And run my fingers across the thickened ridges. I look into a dark recessed knotty eye From where I gather empathy and kindness. The chatter and clatter of breaking waves Keep us company with laughter and stories. Like old companions familiar in fondness I pick at the white lichen pieces That slough easily from her aging skin. When the sun begins to vanquish I carefully and respectfully lower from This grand gentle beast my friend. Ambering arms flailing frozen about me, I glimpse a couple’s infatuation carving Cut deeply into her thoracic body, The same initials of myself and my own love. Not my affront, I trace them apologizing, Relish remembrance can be caught As effaced longevity upon an alder trunk. Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2022 April 8, 2022 All blog photographs by Laura E. Garrard, Copyright 2022
Poetry In Time 