OPAQUE
I gaze into the pool -
the pool gazes back,
a dark unblinking eye,
surface perfectly flat.
No ripples or reflections,
a natural sump
a bitter cup.
Almost round
with sloping sides
no iris or reeds
to soften its banks,
no dragonflies
or bathing birds,
just dark, brown black
surface perfectly flat.
Above the pool
mosquitoes dance
a hovering mist
of frenzied flight,
no shadows cast,
no tricks of light,
just peat brown ooze,
unmoved by life.
I gaze into the pool -
the pool gazes back,
a dark unblinking eye
surface perfectly flat.
Flyntland
Sun 16th Feb 2025 16:52
R.A. Porter, Many thanks for 'looking back' reading and commenting on this poem.
You are right—this pool is menacing, ageless, and in an oozing shallow bog—but unfathomable. It has swallowed plenty but reveals nothing and will continue doing so till long after after we have gone.
It was not a comforting poem.