a great blue flies over with a grraaup
headed for the rookery on the river below
pumping the air with his big gray wing-paddles,
long stick legs trailing behind...i keep pace with a smile...

a hummer zippps by, whirrrs in and out,
sipping at tiny red trumpets-on-a-stick...but
how did i miss these before, right here by the road?
so i slow down to wonder at it...trying not to disturb with my puffing...
have never seen a hummer here...can these red things grow in a day?

and now a cottontail pokes out of the tall grass
and quiet-hoppities across the road
like no one's around
like i'm not standing right there
arms akimbo, amazed and steamy,
with a mile and a half of earned sweat

morning glow swells and shoves over
my beautiful fuzzy gray dawn...
the daily egg breaks over the hill
spilling yolk on oak and cedar
and i turn back toward the house
and coffee
and contemplation of all of this magical stuff