Mornings at Seven
Wild geese stir in the early morning calm
with the ripple of their wake.
Far off,
near the shore’s arm of dune that holds the pond,
a kayak glides,
someone seeking peace
and looking up to find it in the sky.
A sudden commotion of the water at my shore!
Two swimmers diving in together
side by side exactly.
Man and woman—
I can see the sickle-splash of arms and legs in ardent crawl,
and the watery tumult of pumping feet.
But more, and
unmistakable,
is a joyous energy of purpose in the two of them,
heading out.
And a determination to be swimming side by side,
exactly;
so that in coming up for air, their eyes can meet.
The seriousness of their purpose shouts to heaven,
and gives this pond and sky
a grounding and a glory,
announcing that their heading out, together, side by side,
is no more the single purpose of their beings,
then is the night of sleeping side by side.
And they have found that that’s the simple whole if it.
.
by Peggy Freydberg
from Poems from the Pond
Hybrid Nation, 2015
.