by Linda Hoffman, from the chapbook Refuge:

Pond Alchemy

sheets of angled rain
pierce the pond
water meets water

lily pads
host their guests
a frog and beads of water

attentive to water
a blue heron
waits —

the wise say,
‘the way of water
is to flow’

a black cormorant
grasps a snag
winging water droplets

tree swallows
pluck insects
splash of water

the wise teach,
‘water never
harms water’

weaving threads
of iridescent water
dragonflies hover.

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