Neighbor’s Garden
I came to pick up the vacation paper
And suddenly, I am on a safari.
Morning breezes usher out the haze-
Open stage for all winged creatures,
Black vulture and hummingbird,
Monarchs with Viceroy twin.
All around me, movement, like random,
diving leaves after an early autumn frost.
Lost among the coneflowers, Pearl Crescents
rise like a wave as the wind stirs.
A dragonfly charges me, defending new prey.
How odd to see the tables turned on a yellow jacket.
There are no fragrances this late in summer,
just the heavy smell of heat rising.
Sounds of August music ebb and flow,
With background static of cicadas.
But there is no shortage of color-
Gliding,
Fluttering,
Soaring,
Basking,
Launching,
and Landing-
I’d go deaf if I could hear their wings beat.
Cindy Steffen
August, 2002
