A meditation

A meditation

Dipping my toes into a cool pond
       encircled by firs,
       the murmurs of forest life,
       and an array of stars clattering about

the chill shakes my spine awake
as I ease my body into its cobalt still.

I close my eyes.

Inside the water,
      thoughts rise and bubble,
       washing over myself.
       Sometimes their suds turn
       into mermaid fins, and seashells.
Outside the water,
       more thoughts
       racously bouncing
       tracing along the rim of the pond
       bristling against dim blades of grass.

Sighing, I lift myself up
and sit atop the sill of the pond.
The cold air breathes lukewarm onto my wet skin.

A cricket perches itself on my thigh
an ugly thing, it ruins the mood.