Lotus Poem by Roy Ballard

A clear stream falls from hills to feed a lake.
It leaves its boulders and its polished stones
and runs to reedy depths, green, brown, opaque
to lie on mud, decaying plants and bones
where sucking lampreys lurk and bony fish
stare up towards their silhouetted prey.
As coins fall in a fountain with a wish
seeds freshly drop when dead heads shake and sway,
down to that damp of black and hairy roots
where genesis demands to have its way.
A sacred message from this pit of love
the lotus sends upon its pale, green shoots;
its warm and lovely buds unfold above
and with a blush their consummation make
which like a lover's dream comes in a lake