Ice Fishing

Seasonal shifts have all dispersed to another country.
The canoes are put away. Inventory has been taken,
and here I am, waiting for the lake to freeze.
Why? So I can cut across to take you ice fishing.
Why? Because this is how it begins. Ice fishing.
Most anglers are waiting for the lake to freeze.
Most boaters have their boats layed up till spring.
However, there is one flaw in the logic of waiting
for the lake to freeze: cold wind. Anyone knows this.
I had dozed off again and could recall in a dream
something about waiting for the lake to freeze.
Reconnaissance tells me deer are on the island,
trapped since the previous spring and waiting
for the lake to freeze. Tens to hundreds of polar bears
stand on shore for weeks, waiting for the lake to freeze.
Usually these animals travel alone. Not so in autumn,
when they all congregate on the far rim. Like them,
if I am not found fishing or praying for snow to come,
then I am here, waiting for this lake to freeze.