Sunday, August 16, 2015

When time is a mirror of the past


Crawford Lake, Milton, Ontario
by Grace@ Everyday Amazing


Not a breath of wind nor cawing of  black birds can rustle the lake's deep deep sleep.  It cradles time on its belly, pregnant of memories of the first people and creatures who once lived beside it.   By the lake's end, a garbled cedar tree watches over the lake, marbled in blue mystery. It is estimated that the lake is 10,000 years in the making and the remnant of the last ice age.

Summer breeze
is a gentle tap on my shoulder-
I stir not, nor lift
my giant hands from bed
filled with bones of my lost children 




Posted for Imaginary Garden for Real Toads - Poetry Time, Hosted by Karin
Poets United - We visited this lake yesterday and toured some conservation parks as weather was summer perfect.  

Notes:  A 1971 study revealed Crawford Lake to be meromictic –  because the lake’s basin is deeper than it’s surface area, the lowest levels of water are very rarely, if ever, disturbed by wind or temperature changes. Without an annual turnover of water, there is little oxygen present in its depths and minimal bacterial breakdown, which preserves the layers of sediment that have built up over time. This build up provides an accurate record of the human and natural history of the lake and its surroundings. Studies of this sediment revealed the agricultural history of the Iroquoian people, and the presence of a pre-contact village. 

39 comments:

  1. That is pretty cool actually. It is quite fascinating to find these places where history can be read because it lays undisturbed. Interesting personification as well in the tanka. Happy Sunday to you Grace.

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  2. History, memory, truth... in an earth-bawl, how wonderful!

    I particularly love the tone and voice--old, wise, patient... so very knowing.

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  3. The lake probably has seen quite a bit, if only it could tell the tales

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  4. How very interesting! Your poem is a beautiful salute to the elements that time preserves.

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  5. Enjoyed the reflections in both the photograph and the poem. What a beautiful place to have visited!

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  6. Really interesting and thanks for sharing!

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  7. First of all, the backstory is so interesting. Living in a country where the traces of the last ice-age is always present I have never thought of those sediments that rests undisturbed, secondly I admire how you shift the focus, personalizing the lake in that concluding tanka..

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  8. A really pretty trope going on here. I love the idea of the breeze tapping this deep lake on its shoulder. Thanks so much, Grace, for participating with this lovely poem. k.

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  9. Time unravels the past and sheds lights on historic events. Lovely!
    Beautifully executed :D

    Lots of love,
    Sanaa

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  10. such a beautiful piece of tranquility....

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  11. Such an incredible story about such a lovely lake. Your title puts as deep a thought in my mind as well.

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  12. Nature is filled with amusing things which human mind will never ever understand. In Himachal state of India ( a hilly state in the lap of Himalayas and to where I original belong as it is my native place) there is a lake ( Parashar lake) which is a mystery itself. Till date its depth cannot be measured and it has a little floating island on it.

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  13. this is a place I would enjoy..I am sure I would feel the depth of the cooling waters and feel the spirits that float about.

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  14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prashar_Lake

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Vandana for link and thoughtful comments ~

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  15. You have captured the essence of time's passage here beautifully, Grace--how what is permanent absorbs time itself, and remains always merely ruffled and adjusted minutely by the temporary, and our own place in it, to appreciate and not destroy, though perhaps, over millennia, even that doesn't matter, as only the eloquent bones of our struggle will be left.

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  16. excellent in form and telling; a really fantastic tanka, a wonderful read

    have a nice Sunday Grace

    much love...

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  17. amazing.. when you ponder how much the nature around is actually old or what life it lived through...

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  18. Brilliant use of imagery in a short, succinct work. Loved it. Also, I did not know about this lake before. Thanks for sharing! :)

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  19. Your poem is beautiful. I loved the history as well.

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  20. "marbled in blue mystery" is a glorious, and apt, description of the history of this beautiful lake!

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  21. Beautiful write Grace--and thank you for sharing a bit of the history here--it makes me appreciate the deep sense of nature here

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  22. Love this, Grace. It truely is written from the view of, "every day amazing."

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  23. This is a beautiful and very interesting post, Grace. I especially love the idea of the tree holding her hands still so as not to disturb the bones of her lost children. Wow!

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  24. I couldn't agree more Grace...what a beautiful read with rich imagery and fabulous form especially the end....and it was so much richer given the history...a pre-contact village is amazing in and of itself! A very special lake....the Iroquois still revere the lakes where they settled and they do so here nearby.

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  25. Amazing! But what nice and beauty Title too!! Love it and is true:)
    xo

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  26. the lake and the tree are living witnesses of time. wish they can tell us the stories of the past - or they are showing it to us already but we are just missing it

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  27. Time, truth swallowed by a lake. What a beautiful poem.

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  28. This is beautiful. A very deep and lovely read. :)

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  29. We can only guess at what such a lake has witnessed. Beautifully told.

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  30. A wonderful post: pic, prose and poem. Very edifying, as well ... much enjoyed!

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  31. Beautiful poem, Grace. I enjoyed learning about the lake.

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  32. Another guardian of times gone by, may she rest til the end of days.

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  33. Great poem the image is striking.

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  34. The hair on my arms are standing...this piece is timeless and powerful...I love the personification in the closing haiku for this haibun...brilliant work, Grace and thank you, for the added and interesting notes.

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  35. Beautiful, beautiful. spot on imagery. I read it all outloud to my husband, and he loved it, too. the last line in the poem is haunting.

    Jane

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