4 am child awakened from sleep By my father gently shaking my shoulder It did not matter that my sisters Had declined first I, the youngest, was about To inherit an honor To go alone in the boat, just dad and I To Little Swan Lake, about 3 miles from home A familiar place very different in this light Night sounds and odours distilled He lowered the boat into the water And extended his hand to help me climb inside Looking around me, this darkness was new Enchanted silence was new and It did not take long to recognize That I liked it that way Soft rowing carried us To the center of the lake Where quietly drifting He introduced me To the space Where humans were asleep And nature claimed you as her own Smoothing words with his hand He implored me to be still As he gave me the gift of Solitude An hour passed as we listened To the rhythm of water The voices of fish And the depths of our thoughts Our eyes exchanged sadness When other boats crept in Knowing soon, daylight would waken The sleeping dogs and invaders And we would no longer be alone In our nest of idealists
Did he know How I worshipped his every action? That every word he spoke has molded my character? His humility would never have boasted of such Which is all the more reason to want to be like him