Schlachtensee

Early this afternoon three of us set out to the southwestern corner of Berlin to swim in the Schlachtensee.

Massive grey clouds were gathered overhead, but also blue apertures, and beams of sunlight; we were worried it might rain, and instead it was only cooler than ordinary; and once we went into the water, the dragonflies swooped as eagerly as ever, iridescent blue beetles thronged on a beleaguered spray of beech twigs, insect corpses and a feather and a dead reed were lulled to sleep on the water's surface, and the green and silvery leaves of the trees half-buried in the banks could not have looked happier or more summery.