Sunday, June 7, 2009

The Boating Party

We leave the shore
in one rowboat and
one canoe

to see the sunset and
take our evening pasttime
something kingly and queenly
Elizabethan
in our outing

we're arrayed in our boats
backs to faces
we come close and then
pass by
a lazy and pretty dance
on this smooth pond
and the sky going to lavenders
and pinks

when from the graying depths
an enormous snapping turtle rises by
our stopped and dripping oar
he considers
what he sees
without breaking surface

his brief pause
allowing us each
a small and variable registration
of his details
of his algae covered back
sharp fanned claws
his long curving neck and
small watchful eye

before his dismissive circling
and then withdrawal
a meted disappearance
to the world below

leaving us with only each other
and a darkening sky
the coming night

and our individual knowings
of what was seen.

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