<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><span style="color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">September. At the Lake</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">In early June the lake is new.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Glaciers on the granite rim melt,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">rivulets of ice-clouded water gush</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">down lime-streaked vertical walls.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">It is alpine here</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">with an awareness of snow in every cloud,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">even on brilliant blue warm days.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">At dawn, wood smoke rises from chimneys.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Campers awake chilled, don sweaters,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">brew coffee, greet the morning, wait</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">for voices rising up along the trail.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Youngsters arrive to scramble over boulders,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">climb the cliffs as a test of themselves,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">hesitate, then dare the perilous leap.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">They fling themselves airward</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">and the dark lake swallows them in a bellowing splash</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">until they emerge, gasping.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Throughout the summer, we make the pilgrimage,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">yearning to recapture a dream -</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">these cabins, cold lemonade at the store,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">black and white photographs of a time before the road,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">a pristine world that once was, everywhere.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">The long, endless days stretch toward autumn.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">September. The quiet time.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Nothing left to prove, no need to hurry.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">The lake is its own slow clock.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">It mirrors leaves glowing gold and red. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">Trout rise in spreading circles,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">aspens shiver dry and sound like</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">a memory of rain,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">jays and squirrels grow plump,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">and one last trickle winds its way</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">from the peak to the lake</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);">playing brook music on the water.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26); min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; color: rgb(26, 26, 26);"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Elaine Watkins</div></div></body></html>