Pondering Poem by Richard G Berg

Girl copies the too-soon summer of spring
With precise scents of beach and coconut
Made up by make-up, spread upon her wrist
Womanhood's seasons inhaled with a twist.

Earlier, on Hampstead Heath, dogs dabble
In safe depths of pond water, to pretend
That getting wet and drying just require
Four unleashed legs, to shake off winter's end

Whilst their owners absorb the re-born sun
Small children own their giggles, on the run
Further up a heath's hill, another pond:
Swimmers absent, hoping for summer's bond.

Girl swivels eyes for swans. Words playfully
Resurface from a place where the word pond
Meant a picture, without a doubt. Not now
She paddles with the word, near childhood's prow.

Later, sitting by some pond, a football
Intrudes, landing with an apology
From man and son, whilst we kick things about
Should poems keep the writer in or out

Distraction lands in the pond, with a splash

The father's kick. His last, they joke, feeling
Age's lash. It's gone forever, girl quips.
Laughter as far as the sun. Rivers flash


Richard G Berg
April 2026