My name was Nimbo, the other clouds called me Nim because I was always thinking of ways to be different – different from my friends and neighbours, who often overlapped and blotted out the sunrise.

Anyway, one lovely moonlit night, when the stars were blinking and chattering, I decided to look for a new experience. I had often wondered what it would be like to be down on earth and able to look up at the sky. So off I went, gathering my flimsy edges, and began to float downward, down, down, down…Until I landed in a big hole outside St Louis Convent Monaghan.  It took me ages to fit in but at last I did and here I am - Sparks Lake at St Louis Convent, Monaghan!

Nothing happened until autumn when bus and train loads of humans landed on the grounds. They called them boarders. What a relief! Now I had company. Other humans in long black gowns floated by, mainly in the evening after their dinner or tea. Many a secret I heard as they passed by. Best friends always walked together.

I am so excited. Life is new. Now I can count the stars and time the sunrise and sunset. I often wonder why these human creatures don’t come for a swim. At certain times my lower lip protrudes out into the park next door. How I would love to occupy the whole park and expand my cramped conditions. I need space. But the ladies in black would just take a walk along my edges so as to keep dry. They wouldn’t risk being wet. Why? I’m wet all the time and I still live. And I will live as long as I’m allowed.

Time passes. My weeds are taller now than many of the humans that pass by. Each year my face turns anew to enjoy the sun.  Wild geese come annually to sail across my surface. I love the sensation of paddling feet and flopping wings.

I dread the day that humans will dredge me and fill me in. Then I will be no more. But at least now I know what it is like to be water and belong to the earth and the skies! It was well worth the effort.

by Vera McGrath SSL