Mirror of the Morning

 Storing up,
              this paper keeps   unwriting
              this fabric now unthreads
              this moistening of dry salt air
              the softness of long ripples licking stone
              the sparking shimmer,
                                   forever drifting galaxies
              these hazy hills that vanish into sea:
                       all so insubstantial,
                       like stains within a mirror.

Mirror of this morning
              embellished by long silken floss of spider
              fastens threads of sunlight
                                  onto tassels of the ripened grass
                                  dense floral crowns of Queens Anne's lace

                                  our human rustlings
                                         vanished into sea
                                  meanderings of wasps
                                         like tracings of our
                                         fingers upon water.

Long long long ago the stories ceased
                      their words evaporated
            the meaning came undone
            the moral long forgotten
            abiding in this vacancy of legend,
            we paint our stories, lacking ink
            brushed across this hazy sky
            we slip, like sunlight,
                     vanished into sea.

 

Ruckle Park, Salt Spring Island