Lady Bird Lake

A poem inspired by the natural beauty of Austin, Texas

Lakeshore, the light is unthreading.
A path vaguely promised, keeps us
Along. The guttered wool of clouds
On the horizon, purple with the crush
Of day. Soon, the sky will be chalked
With stars like classroom algebra,
And, just like children, we won't have
The patience to seek its time-honored
Answers. Each other's breath and
Thin orbit of warmth in the dark
School enough. I see that we are
Brave and so, for now, immortal.
The exuberant silence of these spaces
That pre-date us, to whose creatures
Night forbids nothing. It is out here
That love asserts its place among
The elements – the salt in our cells,
The lunar truth we spoil with philosophy.
But there are no thinkers around now.
Lakeshore, beauty is itself below
The tree limbs. Tousled, hand extended.

- Winter Bel