Lake’s Embrace

Our lake is a presence outside my house,

A lover, a friend, entertainment, a spouse

Calling and whispering soft to my ears

Easing, erasing all my fears.

Walk with me now on the lake’s granite shores

Where eagles and bears can be seen

Hike in the mountains ‘neath bright starry skies

Feeling again for yourself what true freedom means.

There was a time once when this lake and I

Were joined by youth’s strength and its beauty serene.

Though time has passed and I’m grown gray

The lake in its majesty remains and will stay.

To be renewed for a while is in everyone’s reach

To walk in the woods or stroll on the beach

Feel again the sweet call of an oncoming spring

Hear the owl’s nightly calls, watch the jays on the wing.

To know that we all can again for a while

Feel ourselves at the lake as we once were a child.

There’s a spirit within us which can never age

Though we move through our lives — just like turning the page

Of a book, at the lake.

Which has never once failed

To quicken our hearts. Though the wind o’er the rail

Blows us further and further from shore;

Upon the great lake of life we’ll sail

Evermore.