Water Lily Pond
Xiaoly Li
Artwork by author
Upon the pond, my muse expands, shimmer
of light & shade, sheen & hue.
Waves circle, waves radiate, waves
clash & coalesce. Brooding. Restless.
I want to behold water lilies in simple bloom,
unbothered sway immersed in undulations.
Scarlet lilies shadow pink-tinged water,
& their darkest depths, their bluest dreams.
I want to dive deep into seductive reflections
to silent stillness, where winter’s ice has sunken.
Brightness glows in the hearts
of flowers & wisps of clouds in ripples.
I want to find signs of those I loved as I savor
the lemony perfume wafting from fresh red.
This moment, I want to refract where past
& future merge and fade in the shifting light.
Upon the pond, azure mystery
unfolds & enfolds.
of light & shade, sheen & hue.
Waves circle, waves radiate, waves
clash & coalesce. Brooding. Restless.
I want to behold water lilies in simple bloom,
unbothered sway immersed in undulations.
Scarlet lilies shadow pink-tinged water,
& their darkest depths, their bluest dreams.
I want to dive deep into seductive reflections
to silent stillness, where winter’s ice has sunken.
Brightness glows in the hearts
of flowers & wisps of clouds in ripples.
I want to find signs of those I loved as I savor
the lemony perfume wafting from fresh red.
This moment, I want to refract where past
& future merge and fade in the shifting light.
Upon the pond, azure mystery
unfolds & enfolds.
Xiaoly Li is a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Grant (2022) recipient. Her poetry collection, Every Single Bird Rising (FutureCycle Press, April 2023), was a Zone 3 Press Book Award finalist. Her poetry collection, Wakening Between Worlds, will be published by Serving House Books, was a finalist in the 2023 Diode Editions Book Contests and the Word Works' 2024 Washington Prize. She was nominated for: Best New Poets, three times a Pushcart Prize, four times Best of the Net. Her website: www.xiaolyli.art.