In The Ripples Of The Water Poem by Mario, Lucien, Rene Odekerken

In the ripples of the water, I see my years-
soft rings spreading, fading, returning,
each one a moment, a memory, a lesson.

Some dance in the light, golden and gentle,
laughter caught in the motion,
echoes of voices I have loved,
days when the sun felt endless.

Others break uneven,
fractured by the weight of storms,
the hush of sorrow settling in the deep,
the ache of time moving without mercy.

Yet the water does not stop.
It shifts, it bends, it carries,
each ripple touching the next,
never lost, only becoming.

And so I go on-
through light and shadow,
through calm and tempest,
knowing that every ripple,
whether smooth or broken,
is proof that I have lived.