Waterways

by Cheryl Derby

As swiftly and silently he passed by,

I glimpsed my reflection.

Sunk in the water chestnuts is the sun,

the bright and dark sun

painting leaves in the murk of living.

There his shadow hovers,

living its life in the course of a day,

while these white dresses on the clothes line billow,

filled with clouds.

These are his hills and valleys

in summer slowed.

They are taken in to disappear

through his arms.

They are the embers of summer

that smolder to a silent language,

as I come unbuttoned,

seed pearls dropping.

Each corridor obscures his face

but by his touch I came to know him,

our hands the last thing before the

ghosting.