AT THE PARK

There is a park quite close to the school where I teach.  I have my favorite parking space, right beside the river, where ducks and geese paddle by.  In the wintertime, abandoned nests are visible high up in the trees.  Some are huge.  Possibly mammalian, though dragons come to mind.

Springtime and summer. I picnic, solitary, inhaling the tang of silt and water weeds, while hawks cruise overhead.  Early morning,  herons stand in the river, cautious and hungry.  At night, they fly the length of the water, backs lit by the setting sun, going home.

All I've seen there over the years: thrush, eagle, muskrat, beaver, woodpecker, swan, swallow, fox....

All I do there: breathe, drowse, dream.

All I want: another summer or two.