Darkness falling at the dock when we arrive
rods baited for bass.
Only a lantern swinging at my side
guides our synchronized steps,
wards off the red fox and swooping bats,
discourages a neighbor's big black dog
who wants to be minding our business.
 
We cast for a while into the void
that is the lake, lures searching
splashing softly through invisible
depths trying to tempt unseen prey
minding their own business below.
Comfortable, silent, time dances:
does it really matter if we catch or not?
 
Now you nudge me, nod toward a speck
over the hills beginning to glow. I watch
in wonder as it slowly rises, grows
into a celestial spotlight. There shines
the mandala under whose silver spell
we see through the mingling
of our breath in autumn air
to the bottom and beyond...


© by Arlene Gay Levine.
Used with the author's permission.