Watercolor Reflections (from Birdhouses of the Heart)

Looking out the bay window
I see her lying
on the chaise lounge at pool-side.

She listens to the hum of the heat,
taps her fingers in rhythm
as the water pounds her mind with new freedoms.

The light spreads untended around her
until her velvet brown reflection can be seen
rippling across the pool.

She basks in melancholy love songs
played against a background of expectations.

Her time will come when he will answer
the passions now pawing inside her heart.

As I watch, I see echoes of the future,
soft, hazy visions like Monet watercolors
appear within my mind.

This daughter that I love,
a pearl within a pearl,
everything that matters most.