I joined a carnival ten years ago. This was written in reflection after ten years had passed and I found myself in the same town working a game next to the lake. After two serious car accidents, a couple of bad relationships and a good job later...I found myself lead back to the water's edge. It felt very surreal.

At water’s edge, I’m drawn again ten years after its first impression
Upon my heart and in my dreams…before so many heart hurtful confessions.
I’ve watched the same red ball sun set over the waves pushed by the wind.
Here I am, at water’s edge, staring at this empty life of mine again…

My past, it sits behind me…constructed for the entertainment for all around.
My past, it sings behind me…music colliding and notes falling to the ground.
My future, what future – shall I find myself ten years from this very day
Staring across the water…this still water that I gazed over yesterday.

God has lead me to this water – the trees slowly dance around the shore.
All good and bad paths I’ve taken, I shall take again, sometime, I’m sure.
Here, at the water’s edge, I wonder what life lies just below
The water’s edge, the lapping waves…the unknown, we seek to know.

I watch the sun set and watch the stars glide over the water.
In this small, waning moment, I discover that nothing really matters.
I’ll find my way again, yes sir, to fight this fight that we call life.
At the water’s edge, Dear Lord, time splits as though caressed by knife.

I see my past, I see my present and my future…well, I do implore
To reveal some hint of life within the water caressed shore
As though some great crystal ball with celestial granted powers.
What will the next day bring? What lies in the next few hours?

I turn away from the water’s edge to stare at those large beasts
Standing on the grass nearby…flocked together as though in feast.
Their cold bodies never warmed by the burning summer sun.
Lights all around to chase the darkness when each day is done.

So, I walk back into my past…just feet from this lake’s quiet shore.
Back into a world of its own…a world where some people just want more.
To a counter, I slowly walked…watching others who walk the same.
I pick up a dart and twirl it in my hand… “Step right up, play this game”

The carnival’s set up by the water…ten years since my first traveling breath.
How humbling to think of all the lives once here…marveling at life’s depth.
Ten years talking to this crowd…that teenager who gives me such grief
Was being pushed by mom or dad that first summer I felt the water’s relief.

Life moves on at the water’s edge…we wonder how we’ll ever pull through.
We test the water and wonder its worth…we rethink each thing we say and do.
Somewhere, at the water’s edge, a teenage girl looks at this very same sun
Wondering who’ll be walking in her path when next, her life, is ten years done.

©July 3, 2007 Lori S. Maynard “The Carnival Poet”