A frigid night--
the frosty air.
I shiver in the wake..

My fragile, numb fingers
attempt to touch my face.

I'm frozen....

The crisp, biting wind
gusts violently toward me..

I exhale a visible breath
and trudge onward
over the frozen lake.

I swam in the same water
Somebody died in
I guess the same is true
for most water
(I think).
The water we drink
has been used
drip after slow drip
to drive Someone
to the brink of insanity.
no doubt.
At one point
your warm, smooth, bathwater
was choppy,
salty, grave
to more than one
unlucky
sailor, pirate or slave.
The water is the same
perhaps arranged a
different way..
Know it is the same
deep, ambient killer.
Still we swim,
and still we bathe.


This water felt, looked,
I swear I thought it was pure.
A humble lake
quietly licking the salty shores
not looking for a life to take.
We fished those waters
earlier that day
hobbling in our canoe
and barely hanging on
but smiling.
I imagine he was like that, too.
Drunk from beer and the thrill
of midnight swimming.
Nobody, not even he
saw what was coming
until the lights came on:
flickering and then
too constant
red and blue and
I can only hope
that bright, blinding white.
Drunken fools know not
what is at stake.
We were forced awake
by little sister
frantic but relieved
it was not us
at the bottom of the lake.

I carry my doubt, worry, fears out to your truck but leave them in the passengers seat.
For this moment, I am alive.
I gaze out towards the orange and brown trees, tinted with a red as deep as the love I feel for you. Walk towards the wind, my hair rustles with the leaves and you laugh as my cheeks turn pink from the cold. Sit out on a dock and overlookinh a lake straight from a painting, I am alive. I can see the green horizon and the reflections of branches in the water, over hills and under grass, if you look just a little farther, you'll find you and me, because we're so alone in this moment and I can finally breathe because I feel so free. I lean into the wind, fall back against the dock and sigh, a smile on my face, the lake looks like a thousand diamonds strewn across a blue plane. I am alive. I am breathing, and for once I don't hate the fact that I am. This sno-berry tea carries the taste of longing that, if elsewhere, I can only get from your lips, and I love it. I am an addict itching for a fix of release from reality and instead of my normal methods, I found it in you.

Amongst the monardas
Horsetail, Susan's black eyes
You can almost feel it:
freedom, life.

It could just be the heat.

I never asked to be ugly
dunno why it made me so hard to like
My own peers
they killed me
while our adult supervision got high.
I had no friends when I went away
to the place mom told me
I had to go stay,
"It's a happy place," I remember she said,
"Called Camp Crystal Lake."
Sounded nice
enough at the time.
Crystal Lake. A family fave.
Nowadays, when you hear the name
You don't think of a sunshiney place
full of laughter and happy children
You think of misfortune
you think of my face
and if you think of visiting,
You better not stay
For more than a day,
Or the children will play
on your grave.
This is my home
and I'd rather be alone,
With the dead animals
and my mother's bones.

Lake waters rose heavily, forming
the wall with a line of sinking clouds
about to burst forth.

And for many violent
seconds, hail hit,
giving off a terrible sound,
like elephants
toppling to the ground.

Just as abruptly as it
had begun, so it ended.
Sun met rain
and birthed an eye-grabbing double
rainbow that hung dazzling
and quiet;
it, too, for mere seconds...

In the landscape of love
The lake is a serene presence
Where two hearts enjoy the recess
Diving into depths of happiness
And soak up the warmth of love

I remember sitting by the lake, my legs pulled against me in the darkness.
The sky flashing above me and the wind whispering through the air.
So many feelings in one night...
The water glistened with each strike of lightening and shook with each deep rumble of thunder.
The grayness of it all was enough to make any and all wonders unparalleled in my mind.
I wish I was on a boat in the storm feeling each and every motion of the water.
I wish I could have felt it breathe in and out and cradle me in its arms.
I wish I could have tasted the moisture in the air and smelled the rain.
I know that no matter where I go, whenever I hear the rain that lake is quaking anxiously awaiting my return.

Come with me
To the ancient lake
I ll hold your hand
Dont be afraid

Come walk with me under the stars
We ll sing, dance and make love
Come with me
To the ancient lake
Where the knwoldge shall be gained

Come with me and spend the night
We will never be apart

Come my love swim with me
our love will last an eternity

Walk with me to the ancient lake..

Words of Harfouchism