Lake Ralphine - Winnie Gravendaal Piccolo

[Larry Robinson]

Lake Ralphine

Summer 2020

A gaggle of grey geese are lined up along
the eastern shore of Lake Ralphine.
One flaps her wings, joined
by another and another.
Now a dozen take off in low flight, soon
landing in the middle of a raft of unperturbed
ducks afloat on the shimmering water.

The late sun has colored the small lake in
warm shades of yellow and orange.

From the shore the remaining 
geese are watching intently.  A few
wings make suggestive fluttering
movements.  But no second
team takes off in formation.  
One by two by three by tens now
paddle their way toward the center of
the lake and join the party.  

I don't know what determines —in the
moment — this choice of paddling or soaring.
Or, why the singular white goose (or is it
gander?) sits in the light of the setting sun,
peacefully but alone.  

Harmony reigns among the waterfowl at
Lake Ralphine this warm July evening. 

A sudden interruption of loud honking signals a
flyover high in the mellow summer air, as if to
complete this spacious moment in my life, a life on
which the sun is also setting.
It has taken more than seven decades
for my body to arrive — here.

	- Winnie Gravendaal Piccolo
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