G a r y   J .  W h i t e h e a d

A Reason for Well Being 

In part because we shimmer, 

in part because we shine on forever 

in the time that was, I want to say, or because 

the lake of this life, when wind slices it to pieces, 

conceals the loons riding there, 

I sometimes feel as though a moment teeters 

between two types of loss and that on the surface 

there glides something capable of diving, 

however deeply, as this evening, 

sitting in the yard, just the two of us, 

oblivious, we seemed to be ringed 

by mountains.