Friday, April 18, 2014

Reflected in the Water

     From lifewithelise.blogspot.com

I have always loved water;
grew up on the border
where land and river meet.
I delighted  
in water sounds,
in its feel, cool and smooth,
in things living
in the shallows and depths,
and the off-chance
of spotting a water sprite.

I’m not a strong swimmer
 anymore,
living inland
and growing old.
But I still love the river
and I am not afraid of drowning,
so why do I just keep treading water?


 This is for dVerse where we were asked for some kind of self-portrait.  Check it out, the examples given really helped shaped what I came up with.  Also for PAD and NaPoWriMo Day 18.


26 comments:

  1. smiles...great question in that last line...why do we just tread and not swim.
    i have an affinity for water adn i wonder if we dont all on some level considering it is what we are made of mostly....

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  2. Love this one too, Mary. You are really getting good at packing things into these shorter poems so that everything balances and feeds into the whole. My favorite part in this one is the opening, which seems so full of memories, but the progression is just right to the wistful ending..

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  3. Ha - by the end of the month I will likely be monosyllabic! But thanks Joy. I appreciate your comments and your support.

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  4. nice... yeah...we all should dive full-body in instead of just treading... when i was a kid i would swim for hours - and i still love the lakes and the ocean..

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    1. I always thought you were a little fishy Claudia, lol. j/k Thanks for the visit, and I agree about diving in.

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  5. The first stanza lulled me into a dream-like state, full of love of water (which I too love) ... and then that last line surprised me, with its rather poignant question.

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    1. Thanks for finding time to visit and to comment!

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  6. Loved this poem and found the closing question arresting.........very existential! Loved it! It made me think! I do a lot of dog paddling myself! So tiring!

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    1. Thanks Sherry. You strike me as more of a jump right in kinda' gal! :o)

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  7. I wonder if you will answer your own question, in time maybe.

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  8. Fantastic...I am working on that question. I have stepped into water I never thought I would swim.

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  9. Thanks Susie! Glad you hear you got your feet wet!

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  10. the real question we must ask ourselves... why do we tread water when we can still swim, nice. I grew up by a river too. It was a wonderful companion.

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  11. There is something magical about rivers. Thanks BW.

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  12. Well done.

    I believe we all may just be treading water.

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  13. Why do you keep treading water? Only you can answer that question!

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  14. Very lovely, and all we can do is tread lightly with all! In and out of water! Happy Easter to you Mary!

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  15. Have to swim to shore and give those legs a break

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  16. poignant piece . . . I love water too.

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  17. well, treading trumps drowning, I suppose... ~

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