Resting
On a granite slab left by a retreating glacier
At the shallow edge of an alpine lake.
Scents of spruce and fir mingle
With the harsh complaint of a Steller’s jay.
Heartbeat slowing, my eyes adjust through polarized lenses.
Looking
Mid-depth into the placid turquoise water,
Hanging languid a cutthroat trout.
Pulsing gills, liquid breath,
Iridescent flanks of colors seen in ring-necked pheasants or dreamt by forest sprites,
Shimmering sunlight captured on the fish-skin canvas.
Pondering
A younger man’s trophy
Evolving into a mature meeting of fellow creatures,
Allowing each the silent grace of this encounter.
Immediacy races to permanent experience,
Memory eclipsing life.
Realizing
The sacred truth of now,
A sacrament to be shared, not hoarded.
Love lived, incarnate.
Trout and human,
Breathing and being.
William R. Morris
Dolores
