POEM - Deliberately

Arriving at the pond
Deliberately
Acting on a sign
Found along a wandering snowy path
While lingering
Entranced by frigid water swirling
Perpetual carving
Conical paths
The Basin grows

Years ago Thoreau would visit
So says the placard near by
Today I am at more water
Also tied to Henry David
In relative solitude pausing
Left to wander the banks aimlessly
I’m surprised to find on the rocky shore
Plethora of round, flat stones
Begging to gain brief flight
Before taking a cool dip
I oblige as I am know to do
Fling small stones just so
To skip lightly across the surface
Five or six times at least
Before succumbing to friction
And slipping out of view

Did Thoreau’s skips number as high?
Surely he had to have tried
Found a deliberate moment
Among deliberate living
To liberate a deliberate stone
And found the essential essence
Of a life lived

But had his father taught him
To pick only the flattest and roundest stones
Held just so
In the crook of the index finger
Leaning over
Staying low
Extending the arm out in a wide arch
Flicking the wrist sharply at the end
Again and again
Each stone a little further
Until no more worthy projectiles can be found
Did he discover
In the end
That he had lived