I and the Dragonfly

I and the Dragonfly

Indian-style, I sit by the lake,                                                                                                                                                            with no more movement than the tall grass that barely stirs in the breeze.                                                 The trees shade my still form on the path,                                                                                                    but on the lake, the reflected sun shimmers unchecked.

The water is almost still on the surface                                                                                                        and from its depth, earth colors mirror land and sky and clouds precisely.                                                     I look closely and see small circles all across the skin of the water;                                                                                     tiny water insects gliding noiselessly.

Across, on the far shore, the sun runs yellow down the hill between the tall pines,                                 spilling into the water just where the red earth joins it.                                                                                      As I sit longer, an. audible splash to my left signals the feeding one of the fish on the surface riders; another on my right signals the quick return of a frog into the water from whence he came.  

Time slips slowly away, and I become part of this natural world,  an interlude in life that does not often occur.                                                                                                                                                                 Then a fairy comes to light in front of me on a long, pale green frond.                                                       Not a real fairy, lest you think I have sat too long in that enchanted spot, but it might have been, the beautiful dragonfly that sways there.                                                                                                            His body is long and slender, and his double wings are iridescent, catching all of the sun's warmth and radiating the blues, pinks, greens, and silver of the sky as he sways.

He stayed only a short time, sharing his world with me, before he moved quickly away to other grasses on the far edges of the lake.  I remain behind him, unable to move as gracefully or as fast, but with a renewed spirit in the magic of the moment.