[Author’s note: This is the second poem in my “Lotus Pond” cycle. For the first poem, The Secret of Crossroads, click here.]

Lotus Pond
2. Remembering What Was Forgotten

Sarcophagus in the red
forest’s vale, limestone island
in a grassland crawl where blooms,
waves bright amethyst sowbread.
Saffron eye shuts beyond high
frosted peaks. The atmosphere
whispers cool and tender.
Billowed cloak, the steadfast walks
small, an obsidian mote
in dusk’s drowsy light. Step
by step, onward to the tomb;
monolith and memory.