praise the sunset sliver of pink
praise memories of calamine and salt-caked feet
praise selenite crystals
drawn from soft sodium clay
praise combing the shore for micro-trash
on a soggy saturday
praise the salty blood of the lake
praise the salty water
where my desert-raised father learned to sail
praise spiraling lava rock
praise the corklike body afloat
praise the smell of life recycling
praise microbes detoxifying, restoring balance
praise the oolites on her shores
praise snowy plover, pelican, and sandpiper
descending in clouds
praise watery sanctuary
bald eagle, phalarope, and grebes
praise wild and the life it breathes
praise for what is borrowed
be considerate to these gifts
step gently with reverence
leave only part of your soul as you pass.

Lines contributed online by lake-lovers from various places, some far from the shore, who answered the earliest public call to praise in late fall of 2021.