For the New Year

[Lake]

For the New Year

In this stillness at this moment
I stare at you and you stare back at me
I see my invisible self in you
in the gnarled trunk, verdant leaves
just as you see your untouchable self
in the inverted reflection
originating from the same root
but outstretching your body and arms
on the transparent surface of water

so that is when sunlight comes to send
off the past and greet the forthcoming
in the hiss of gentle sway of leaves
unnoticeably yet inevitably, then
it dawns on me that everything lies
in everything else, each beautifies the other
with what we have undergone
and what we will go through
together we age
together we grow
_________________
the trouble with poetry is that it encourages the writing of more poetry -- Billy Collins