8 July 2011

I wished to see in the woods today the lean red fox alert and watchful
or a barred owl on a limb above staring me down with its terrible black eyes
or a new wildflower nodding lovely on its stem.
I wished for a spark, a beam, an arrow pointed up,
a little smackerel of something that would mean something
on this particular day to relieve my gloom.  
 
Instead what I saw without flinching and
without revulsion was a skinny snake sliding
into the creek from the rocks a step or two from my feet.
Today’s particular grace arrives in the form of a snake!
Or, rather, my acceptance of it.