Water Iris

This is a poem I wrote concerning a secret. A beautiful, wonderful secret.  But the person who held it did not know that I knew about it.  I wanted this secret to remain a secret until that person wanted to reveal it to me.  It was theirs. So, I wrote this poem while I waited.

Water Iris

By: Claire Jenkins

Tonight, stars are watching you and me through one-way glass.

My feet arch into mountains at my first step outside

Then settle into the beaded wet that marks this day.

Who knew freedom could be so quiet.

Stamped with green ink, new-formed leaves breathe in life.

They never miss a detail,

 News of fresh gossip and new-found secrets

leap and travel through the twisted branches of the same tree.

I smile.

And I'm surprised that they don't all fall off in shock.

This is a real smile. 

One that says I know who I am.

This is a smile that holds a secret.

It disappears as I see it.

Water Iris.

In silent stares I see that it knows.

My secret drips purple through it's veins.

In that one glance the glimmering droplets of water on its surface

reflected what they had seen in me.

Through the lake in my eyes, all the way to the locked doors of my mind

they showed me I didn't need a key to open them.

My smile returned.

Photograph still, that elegant flower invaded my curiousity.

Night petals rippled inward protecting.

Night petals swooped smoothly, breathlessly.

Water Iris needed no key.

It knew it all.

Glowing beams of moonlight added to it's elegance and serene beauty

And in this instance

The lamplight became my star.

I thought of you,

And I smiled.