The Lake of Stars

By: Adham Boghdady – Egypt

Here…

Where the valleys stretch out to meet the horizon,

The mountains rose up to speak their eternal words,

And that lake slumbered peacefully,

Gazing with its wide smile

Upwards toward the sky—

The sky, which became a roof of serene blue,

Sent its color to the lake,

So its waves shivered in ecstasy,

And it burst into happy, hearty laughter.

***

At night,

The sky drew its curtain,

And the stars said:

“O Lake,

Let your surface now shine with pearls,

Be a brilliant mantle

That captivates the minds!”

***

The stillness of the valleys called out to me,

“Come to the lands that found their meaning in silence,

Where the water touches the lips of the stone,

In the Lake of Secrets.”

Fleeing the clamor of life…

I left behind the noise of the cities

And went to an invaluable clarity.

In the mirror of the water,

I saw a splendor

That time had not yet visited.

I swam like a soul wandering without a body,

Hovering around water made of silk.

It is the night of the inspiration of feeling,

At the Lake…

Where the voice of secrets unites with the pearls of the stars forever.