costly stones

the mountain partly hid the lake
was crystal clear and warm
they swam across to the river where its outlet was
we were looking for costly stones.
The lake got shallow, and they waded, but could
not find any pricey stones.
When they waded back, the lake had retracted back
into the mountain, it was now a cave.
They picked some stones and decided to return
next day.
When they did the lake was blood- red and saw
nothing of interest
They did not know why the pool
was red thought the reason was it had taken
colour from minerals in the mountain.
The place was ominous and silent in a fearful way.
His friend had turned into a shadow he no longer
looked like a human more like a hazy dream partly
remembered as the apparition, it had no face
he could have been anyone, even me.
Back at his hotel, he looked at the few stones from
the day before, they had no colour, he left them
on a shelf, and hoped someone would find
the beauty of the stones what he had missed.