A Single Drop

The koi and the lotus

shared the same quiet pond,

never wondering

which belonged more deeply

to the water.

One swam.

One bloomed.

Neither envied the other.

Morning drifted softly

through reeds of emerald green,

while the pond held

the sky without effort,

a perfect mirror

for clouds passing nowhere.

Then,

a single drop of rain.

It touched the surface

with no more weight

than a whispered thought.

Circles spread outward,

one becoming many,

many becoming one,

until the entire pond

remembered the touch

of a single drop.

The lotus did not resist the ripple.

The koi did not chase it.

The water accepted both

without choosing between them.

Soon the circles faded,

though nothing had truly disappeared.

The rain had become the pond.

The pond had become the ripple.

The ripple had become stillness.

Above,

the clouds continued their silent journey.

Below,

the koi vanished into deeper water.

The lotus opened another petal

to the light.

No lesson was spoken.

None was needed.

The pond had already said enough.

All is as it should be,

not because nothing changes,

but because everything belongs,

even the ripple

that seems to disturb the peace,

for it too

returns

to stillness.