I wandered, lost to thought. 
When I spotted the pond 
In a nearby park it occurred to me 
I should have a rest. 
I wandered a bit further 
And found a bench 
With a view over the water. 
It was fresh, that day, 
The sun high in the sky, 
The clouds idling through 
Like meandering livestock 
Grazing upon azure. 
And the water was mirror smooth, 
The only ripples sliding away from 
The greedy, fat ducks 
Squabbling over the last scraps 
Of bread errantly cast by a toddler. 
But I was lost. 
Lost more now, as I 
Meandered through my thoughts, 
Turning them as if ploughing  
The fields of my mind. 
And they grew 
And seemed more vivid, now: 
My recollections. 
Perhaps that is the power of reflection. 
The light that glanced off those ripples, 
Small prisms that express the colour within, 
Extruding each hue in strings of beaded beams. 
And each one got me thinking. 
And each thought lost me deeper.
Until, I was the ripple sliding off 
Into the recollections of another.

Jimmy Carter, American politician and 39th President of the United States, was born today in 1924.

Richard Harris, Irish actor and singer, was born on this day in 1930.

Theresa May, English politician and Prime Minister from 2016-2019, was born on this day in 1956.