Llewellyn Berry
Once Upon a Time
Posted on February 12, 2011by Llewellyn Berry
Once upon a time I stood crooked by the lake
As weeping willows sang peaceful anthems
Near where I wrote dirges in the sand suggesting
The nonchalance of my middle age.
I could stare at the sand or the sea remembering
Nothing of the pain in my heart over losing loved ones.
I could see distant tall ships carrying clouds
On the horizon, their rise and fall majestic
Like passengers aboard who aimed at the new world,
The promised land, where shores of sand clean,
Water blue and clear and
Fish, who bravely spoke the poetry of forgotten souls when
Asked about the secrets of the universe.
And in the quiet dawn when sunrise
Quickens its pace to greet the sky, I pondered the endless words
To anthems sung and whose meanings were made real
Like the sun and the sand and the wind that took away my breath
As I lay searching for answers to questions posed by fishes.
I whispered and listened through the wind that blew
Over the sand and the sea – once upon a time.
Winter Pond
National Arboretum
Washington, DC
1985