CONTENTS      THE OLD POND     QUIETUS EST     THE LAST POND     A PROPER CIVILIZATION     PREPARATION     HANSEL AND GRETEL: A DOCUMENTARY OF THEIR LIVES      AUTHORS

The pond is gone, tidy as a seamless
bottom sheet pulled taut. The gray
light has turned its head away, trees
barely notice the water's shape, dead,
flat. The lead crow streaks back
through the trees above us, calling,
calling the warning not to come
home yet. We tread across a surface,
a thin shoreline bends down into the wetness
of farewell, our unexpected footprints
fill with sorrow. I search for the pond,
finger my memories for its sweet echoes,
scan the broken branches for ducks, herons,
loons, anything to save me from the knowing
of nothing, of things finished, done, of death.
The pond is as we are.

Copyright 2006 by Becky Dennison Sakellariou