Shore Of A Lifetime Poem by L C Vieira

Tonight, I stared across the lake,
while Paddy felt the water.
'It's warm, Mom, ' he called, and I smiled,
but all I could think of was of long ago...

A young girl tosses stones,
her toes playing in the sand,
wandering, always wandering
among the trees -
smiling shyly at the boys
who didn't know yet to look away -
the one with the long hair in the canoe
who called her one day in Toronto,
and the one with the golden hair,
enchanting her with his music.

I glance around the lake,
and see the ghosts of yesterday,
faces calling from the clouds, the shore,
calling me, calling me.
I reach out, but the moments slip
into the water
and just out of reach.
I can only see the reflection of them in me.

(1995)