Jones Lake, A Carolina Bay  Photograph by Robert C. Clark 

(Note to blog followers. Visit my updated website and explore new menu item “Dreamscapes” for more narratives and images like these in “Aurora Rising.”)

October dawn. A place that seems like a dream. Jones Lake State Park. Near Elizabethtown, North Carolina. This Carolina bay, gouged from the earth by a meteorite, thought some, lies upon the land, a forgotten pendant. Set amid a rim of green bay forest it is tranquil and shimmering, a jewel of a natural area. No stream, creek, or spring feeds this lake. It relies on rainfall … as do you.

The night before, the chilled air, heavy with dew, coated the land with silver lacquer. A million stars salted the night and come dawn a royal spectacle arrived. Aurora, goddess of Dawn, rose to spread her gown of gray over coral waters.

Perhaps Welch, a songwriter, passed through here. “I remember a talk about North Carolina and a strange, strange pond. You see the sides were like glass in the thick of a forest without a road. And if any man’s hand ever made that land, then I think it would’ve showed. Seems like a dream.”

Yes a dream … Perhaps you’ve never been to a Carolina bay. Perhaps you should. Put it on your list. Go early on a cold autumn dawn and see Aurora rising over one of Earth’s true mysteries.