Joining the Family

Joining the Family

Softly you step onto the footbridge,

Any sound you make lost under the tap

Of the woodpecker, the “Myeet!” of the jay,

The rattle of bamboo as sparrows move

Across water one reed at a time,

The beaver contemplating higher math

As he works his jaw, listening to

Water flow–What is enough, what is right?--

Then slipping into the pond, circling toward

You to claim grasses, staunch the water’s flow

In pursuit of quiet, cutting the pond

In two, abiding silent shadows,

Bald eagles and herons, swans, geese, ducks, deep

Water that makes you invisible to the wild world you keep.

Author: Sandy Lee Carlson

Photo: Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash