The Still Pond- after “The Red Poppy” by Louise Gluck
The best thing is living care free.
Tranquility: I am that, from the surface.
I watch silently the world above me,
showing them all of me,
but they only notice some of me.
How can someone look at me
and only see what lies on top?
Oh my friends, this happens daily
with almost every encounter,
not just to me, but with everything.
Did you ever let yourselves stop
to look at what lies beneath?
Have you wandered what lives deep in my still waters,
that is camouflaged by reflection?
Are you afraid of what it might reveal?
Because truthfully I see things the way you do:
assuming, at first glance. But after remaining still for so long,
the reason, I now see, is for something greater.
I don’t see by glance, I see because of truth. I see for clarity.