The Mirror

The crystal river running beneath me serves as a mirror,
In whose face I see the infinitely colored array of leaves above.
From my perch on a small footbridge,
I watch as a minnow's tiny ripples
Disrupt the image of a world he will never know.

Before the ripples die,
For a moment our worlds become one in the opal glass,
And I see that our rocks, our trees, our dirt
Are the same.

I have a brief chance to look the minnow in the eye
As he pauses in the his frantic, jerking gait,
And there is my own.

He swims back to rejoin his school,
As I must soon return to mine.

With some regret, I watch the waters settle,
The trees and creatures of this world again
Bobbing calmly and without interruption.

Soon after I leave, I hear another minnow pierce the still waters.