For love of place
Where a baby garter snake consumes an earthworm
Where the newt and desert toad wrestle and roll
Where the Triops is awakened by rain
Where the sunflower and globemallow grow
Where the maligned thistle hosts hummingbirds
And ladybugs and twenty other species
Where mated ravens swoon from the sky
Where the coyotes raise pups in the gulch
Where packrats construct prickly pear barricades
Where the chickens held their own free range
Where the bobcat pads
Where potatoes and carrots grew sweet in mountain dirt
Where a house of freedom was built
Where thunder rocked the roof
Where the stars tell stories
Where silence speaks
Where memories sleep and time forgets us
Where was our home
For love of place.
Anaphora
Love of place runs through every word of this poem - a place so teeming with life. (I am amazed the chickens survive amongst the coyotes and bobcat:)
ReplyDeleteWe suffered predation from a neighbor's loose dogs. We had cunning black star hens at the time - one a predator herself we named T-regina (T for Tyrannosaurus).
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