Hydro-Electric Dreams

Way up high
above the farms
above the rooftops
above the tarns
among the crags
down in a grassy dip
you come eye level
with the darkness of the water’s edge

fed by a long flume
and trickling steam
lapping licking dripping
over a dam wall
onto flat sandstone flags
where toads gather
to mate aloud in March
and sky and trees converse with clouds

scudding across
mirrored on a surface
of rippling unreality
to a soundtrack of pure toad
so that for a moment
there is no sky
no lake no earth no
it’s as if nothing artificial
exists within this landscape

and you don’t want it to stop
this natural illusion
the Magician engineered
to create the head of water
to power the pump house
to bring forth light
from dark waters

to illuminate his mansion of dreams