At Lake Lucerne - August 2018 Comments

Daniel, this reminds meof a moment years ago when, quite angry, I set out on a long walk from our house to Embudo Canyon. I got to the stream that emerges from it by early afternoon and sat down by it. How long it was I don’t remember, much or most of my anger dissipated, when I looked up to see close by a deer drinking from the stream. As you can imagine, an uplifting moment. Be well, brother! -Glen

In this poem the passageway to transcendence is horizontal...but since the sphere of being is expanding, a gain in verticality will be included. The beauty of not making promises is that horizontal and vertical no longer matter. Anytime we turn a corner of thought, there is a chance to find that once-obscured portal waiting for us. Your poem does a good job of setting the scene....AS IF the day HAD NO GIFTS TO GIVE.

The connection between humans and nature is stronger than we can imagine. Though nothing seems to happen here, no drama, no war, just a routine day with nothing striking or unusual about it, but a lot is happening inside, a spiritual shift, that is lost upon the eyes. A poetic gem.

I enjoyed this poem, Daniel. The first two stanzas describe a placid scene with muted expectations for the day. The image of the swans and the woman stands out from that setting and the connection between her and the birds is beautifully drawn at the start of the final stanza. In the final line you leave the reader with the thought that the beauty of such a moment lingers, and that applies to the poem too.