Dragonflies

She could not see herself. The closer she came, the farther away the mirror of the lake seemed to drift.

“Are you hiding from me?”

Silence fell - the last of the water ceased to ripple,
the treetops trembled to a final shiver, strange voices from the dark
corners of the ferns fell quiet, and all movement, all rustling
came to a halt…

“Does silence mean yes?”

Her head bowed. She saw her white - dirty socks
inside muddy slippers, slowly but surely
sinking into the gathering layers of dry grass.
Whenever she tried to move, the blades turned
to dust, and the great tendrils of the old willow
mirrored the growing sorrow on her face.

The bodies of fish lay stretched out on the cracked earth,
or were still drowning in the mud, where, with dimming eyes,
they watched the dragonflies for the very last time.

They fell to Earth like meteorites.