The Boy in the Lake

by Sean Kilpatrick (December 2025)

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We vacationed on a small lake
where some boy had drowned.
The shore was abrupt, shallow,
but with a steep escarpment
too deep for sonar.
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I stood at the precipice,
sensing a thermoclinal drop,
and stared into his colorless eyes.
Shut up, I said. It’s not cold enough
to be inviting.
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He rose in the water each day.
By the end of our visit,
his head was cresting the waves.
By the end of my life,
his shadow crossed the moon.
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