The Rare Event
The lake was limpid, vitreous.
All the locals said it was
A rare event. Oh yes, I should
Have mentioned, it was frozen ‘good’ –
Frozen in its pulchritude:
Frozen and transparent!
Through the ice, glass smooth, glass-clear,
You saw the grass
That grows three feet below. But now,
The lake had risen high
To take the shore unto itself, and glorify
The skaters scooting in a line;
In and out of birch and pine
Nestled in a see-through ice
That could have passed for paradise.
Tufts that stand up winter round,
Wheat bleached strands at birch’s base –
Stood out because the coin-capped sprouts,
Unnaturally clear clean through
Like magnified and frozen dew,
Clung to the stem like frozen glue.
And from the ground and ice,
The lake grew small, exquisite ice-lace trees:
Tiny crystal palaces. Euphoric.
Long as frozen lake could stay
A mystic sweetness froze the play.
Glass-glossy lakes last just a day.
They are a rare event.
©The Rare Event 95.3.2/03.8.5/07.1.23 Circling Round Nature; Arlene Corwin
A Rare Event #1
The lake was limpid, vitreous.
All the locals said it was:
A rare event.
And it was frozen –
Frozen and transparent.
Through the glass-smooth,
Glass-clear ice you saw the grass
That grows when lake is low.
Now the lake had risen high –
High enough to take the land into itself.
Skaters scooted in and out of birch and pine.
Tufts that stand the winter round –
Wheat colored strands at birch’s base –
Stood out, the coin shaped crystal sprouts
Unnaturally clear, clean through:
Magnified and frozen dew
That clung to stem like frozen glue.
And from the ice, piled branch on branch,
Minute ice trees,
Or tiny crystal palaces. –
Dependent upon how one sees:
Euphoric moments freeze,
Image playing on cornea for the day
That glass-gloss crystal stayed –
Becoming soon opaque.A Rare Event 95.3.2 Circling Round Nature; Swedish Book; Arlene Corwin
©
Arlene Corwin Poetry 