Reflections In Water

early morning as day blinked its eyes I rowed a little dory out - smooth rivulets behind me in the mirror surface. I stopped in the middle wrapping the misty silence around me straining to remember the town as it had been yes, it would be about here - the cemetery - they moved all the graves they could before the deluge but many remained for age or obscurity's sake it was there she first kissed me we went daily for the quietus and privacy to do afternoon homework (and split the atom) there, friendship became... more like crocuses rushing to spring we bloomed under the brooding arms of a grumpy elm branches twisting as if to keep our callow sins a secret so precious, those moments - so ... distant now - a flood and a lifetime later - it all decayed in the merciless murk ... an entire town given to the abyss for the thirst of a city miles away not a thought given to our town's tragedy no laurel laid upon these somber depths the feelings I pondered there in stillness had no precedent half my life and countless memories swimming far below in unforgiving darkness - homes, streets, schools, churches gardens of stone ... drowned for progress and population now, I committed a like crime - fishing my wallet from a corduroy pocket I removed her photo from its honored sheath (where it had slept for years) placed it ever-so-tenderly on the lake's surface, and watched it slowly lilt to the inky depths with my youth... and her memory.