Defiant Sentries

Copy Right ©2012 Hanna Gosselin ~ Pier Post Persisting

Defiant Sentries

Wooden posts rise from the water,

 defiant sentries guarding

the memory of their crumbled pier.

The young and the old had stood

upon the weathered planks

to view their reflections

in the mirror glass lake.

Fishermen had looked

over its edge to cast poles

 into the lake womb

to hook its offspring

for their dinner table.

Giggles had pierced the sun

on sunny summers as children

leapt from the pier to spell

their joy in sparkling ripples.

There were dreams initialed in the wood

of whispered love and promises

scattered in petrified bones

on the shore.

The posts had it all, life, love, secrets

tattooed in their splinters.

The lake’s rage had tried to erase

their memories in a flooded bath,

but had underestimated the echo of life

that refused to surrender.

©Susie Clevenger 2012

 The Sunday Challenge at Real Toads was to use the beautiful photography

 of Hannah Gosselin as inspiration for our poetry.