It is an honor to introduce you to an original work by my friend, Finn Enke. You may feel when you read this gorgeous work you are in the presence of a boundless soul. You may glimpse the beauty of home.
To the Open Water at Dawn on April 9
How you shine
after a long winter lived as ice!
Lick the sky, with ease.
All is silver and pale and blue
not even a breath of wind yet
you shimmer
to greet the sun rising
like the golden Buddha’s calm eye
ever awakening.
Smile.
You breathe.
Ice melts into you.
The Loon dives without leaving a ripple
and stays under
fishing
longer
than you thought possible
and you are laughing at the tickling
feet of three Golden Eyes showing off with each other
dancing on your surface,
and how good it feels when
eight red-breasted Mergansers
slide in for a landing, crowns raised just
for the joy of it
Precious water! Perfect sky!
So many old friends coming for a visit
you remember this feeling:
the slick Shoveler’s beak skimming off bits of stuff
the ice has left behind
and the warm underbelly of the Canvasbacks waiting for a spring salad to grow
in your sandy basin,
how giddy Buffleheads flash white and
in a twirling splash
are gone.
Scaups chatter quietly, no matter
who is Greater, who Lesser
even as small dark armies of coots click away in Morse code
Busy. Not busy. Busy. Not busy.
Some say the Ring-necked duck is “uncommon.”
But everything is uncommon.
And everything is common.
You welcome them:
you do not ask of them,
“Is ‘Ring-necked’ your true name?” just because
they wear their rings around their beaks and not,
like the Mallards, around their necks
and
Oh! The Loon again—
you maybe almost forgot about the Loon—
deep
slow
it surfaces finally
breathes with you
and the fish it has brought up from your depths slides easily
down its throat—
but now Me!
Me! Me! Me! ME! Who would you be
without the seagull’s incessant cry
Me! Oh Me, ME!
Oh! And the Loon again
slips under
in its own
perfect moment.
The Sun rises higher
the last thin ice flow releases itself to lake and sky
room enough here
smile
for Everyone.
Finn Enke
April 9, 2014
