Mountain Lakes

The big lakes in the West are all dark blue -
Lake Tahoe, the Great Salt Lake, and Bear Lake -
Blue under the open sky, a dark hue
To make the new naive mistake them fake.
They're not the blue of spidered turquoise rock.
They're not blue like the smooth blue of the sky.
They're not the bright blue of an endless flock
Of mountain bluebirds ready soon to fly.
They're ink-blue like the blue that makes the border
Of evening rainbow blue and indigo,
An endless blue and circle-fractal order
That makes your soul merge in its endless flow,

Blue like a dark, clear Indian sapphire,
And bringing to the heart as much desire.