today, too. Birds are diffi
Sudden black shapes bank and vanish,
light fl ashing, uncolored, off a wing,
a glossy back. Meanwhile just ahead
beside the trail the little sycamore
with its as yet entire and at the moment
motionless set of yellow and bronze leaves
has lit up like a lamp, backed by
the cold shadow of the great ridge
where the sun just now touched down.
And now I see a woman
a fair distance away,
standing just off the trail,
and looking up intently
into the dark treetops,
quite unaware of me
under my big daypack
approaching through the dusk.
I click my walking staff
against a trailside rock
letting her know I'm here
before I come too near