Short note on the Lake and Us

Sept 2010, Virginia, Disha Bose

I had a dream on the jetty. My feet high above the water which might have been blue in the morning but was red when my toes dangled over it. I wished I had longer hair, like the fairytale princesses, it would have blown in the breeze the same way the orange maple leaves loosely hung for life from the branches of the trees behind me. The sun was setting and the water looked cold and the lake so still I didn’t have to lift my eyes to see the clouds. There can only be extremes of thought, either peaceful happy ones or sad dreadful ones in a place like this, where you’re left alone, a lone breathing thing in the center of all things bright and beautiful.

But my dream was a happy one. I would have thought hopeful in another place in time but certainty is what I’ve gained surprisingly with distance from him. I will live by the lake. I will awake to slow motions of the water lapping against the waterfront. The sun will be in my eye through the ivory curtains in my room, the deck will be washed in blinding sunlight when I walk into it and the water will be at peace with me as it is today. I will swim in it, in the cold I will swim in it too, because it will be mine. A chill will not threaten me because I will know the lake well and it will know me.

Sept 2010, Virginia, Disha Bose

We will live by the lake I dreamt. Sit on the jetty at night like we did on a jetty in a different land. Sit, our feet dangling above the dark waters like it does today. Chase fireflies among the falling leaves in Autumn and see each other in the moonlight before walking back to our home by the lake. The clouds will pass over us and if it ever rained, we would run in it with our dogs and laugh at the sky till we were cold and shivering. We’d watch the tress grow from green to orange and red and then slip into the water during Fall. But we’ll wait for them to dress the trees again and we can welcome summer back with a boat on the lake and our closest friends.

No dream seemed so real to me before, no thought seemed so like a promise. My mind was racing yet the water was so still and the sun was dying peacefully. An amazement it was the world around me then. I knew I would get up to leave but I shared an hour with the lake, a love story with a promise. I promised the lake I’d live by it with him and it told me it’ll wait.