Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Sestina for a Canoer

Hey everybody.  This is a poem I wrote a year ago. It was difficult to write and I am very fond of it.  I don't think I will ever try to write another Sestina. I hope you guys like it. It is also up in the Poem's page.

Sestina for a Canoer

Trees and wildlife reflect in the water;
Glistening and shining, wobbling in the waves
Made from a canoe that glides by, floating.
Silently the water spreads and ripples
As a lone man gently dips his paddle
In to the cold and ancient lake's body.

He looks down and gets lost in the ripples.
He sees the reflection of his body;
A new and different world in the water
Which he pokes at with his hand-made paddle,
Further distorting the world in the waves,
Sinking a fallen leaf nearby, floating.

He looks out at the expansive body
And thinks about a lost life in the waves.
A reflected world mirrored by water,
So easily disturbed by his paddle
And the canoe that is softly floating,
Causing the array of lively ripples.

Suddenly he becomes tired floating,
And with a few strong strokes of his paddle
Moves quick and swift across the large body,
Creating powerful, momentous waves
Which turn into the tiniest ripples,
Evening down into flat and calm water.

Now that the wind had died there were few waves
Visable on the lake's massive body.
Using great strength he managed to paddle,
A master of his craft, like air, floating
Across the large display of still water.
All that is left are the canoe's ripples.

He reaches shore, where he throws his paddle;
He steps out, leaving the canoe floating.
Alone, bobbing, it makes tiny ripples
Flattened by the shore's reverberated waves.
He lifts the canoe out of the water;
Finally, some time to rest his body.

His paddle rests, his thoughts ease, dreams floating,
But not of waves or any small ripples.
Beside still water a resting body.

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