Fascinations

 
  
 Fascinations
­
How they do change over a lifetime
and yet so deep within
our fascinations are us.
My fascinations with the tiny
Have led me into new worlds of beauty and wonder.
And languages I did not know;
Palmer Amarantha, Nutledge, Basidiolichen,
 
             
  My First Fascination
A child’s bare feet walking on the wet sand
 
I scan through this clear water for a Lucky Stone,
Floating and rolling along at my feet,
Ancient, ageless remnants of the ear bone of the white fish,
A stone of remembrance of another life of Erie,
Inscribed with a large “L.”
Reaching over to catch this floating wonder
I become connected to the ancient life that lived and lives
Here
My home.
 
   
 Returning,
I enter a body of life
Far larger and other than me
To which, I belong.
 
Finding two lucky stones in one morning
Brought me such joy and contentment,
I do belong
To the enduring life of this Great Lake.
 
Looking north across the Lake
her horizon disappears
Dropping out of sight as the Earth curves round
Gifting me with wonder.
 

 
Oh, the unseen beauty and mysteries of
This Great Lake,
“Erie,”
An extinct word for Iroquoian peoples
Who lived and walked the wet sands
Centuries before.
 
My beginning to a life of fascination,
And all I did was stand still
In the wet sand where moving waters
Were giving up their strength on the sand
Then falling back
Returning to their home,
Erie.
 
All I did was stand still
Gazing at the far side of home,
Then turning back
To the here of this wet sand.
 
Do you long to stand still
at home
on this Earth?
 
Do you yearn for the wandering,
Floating freedom
                                 0f the Lucky  Stone?                                                                                                           
                                                 

©2018 John Holliger