Walking against the wind
October sunshine
the hawk’s circling dive
criss-crosses the airplane’s ascent
whisper of grasshoppers rustling, chirping
in the tall grass
mingles with the whooshing freeway
Silence and words
pass a group of students
armed with cameras
and youthful vitality
Words and silence
pause to watch a wooly-bear
inch across the path
having observed its efforts
we feel obliged to shield it
from careless footsteps
a scout troop approaches,
we catch one boy’s eye and gesture
toward the caterpillar
the boy crouches down
and his friends crouch down
they shout with proud recognition “wooly-bear it’s a wooly-bear!!
and the leader bellows
to the ones who’ve gone ahead
hey come back here and look at this
our job is done
voices of scouts and students recede
into flowing water
flowing traffic
words and silence
motion and stillness
a lone cardinal
hides itself in the orange-
red-leafed shrubbery
we know where we are
where we need to be
on this path