at the hermitage

~
~ ~
~ ~ ~
The lake. Raining. Raining on the lake.

Raindrops, millions, dance geometric.
Each rippling circle,
a life and a death,
immortally flatten
flatten on the lake's skin.

Something pulls my gaze.
Movement?
or is it condensed life?
bound tighter, clumped together,
entropy defeated for now.

a beaver
scurries along the bank,
pushes into the lake
ducks its head
into the water
arching black back
glistens for an instant
gone beneath the surface.

Lake. Lake.

Then head pops up elsewhere,
an extra splash (it seems to me)
of joy in the task,
absorbed and ecstatic.

V-shaped wavelets
follow him around
around the bend.

Gone.

Until there,
here,
again. Again.

Raining on the lake. Raining. The lake.