By Laura Rockhold

We went mid-morning, under a clear sky,

to walk and listen as we do in the woods.

First, we saw two trumpeter swans gliding on the lake,

holding themselves as sacred as their other, we said, loves for life.

In the marsh, we saw four great white egrets wading,

each on their own path.

And three garter snakes sunning

their creative sides in the tall, yellow grass.

We saw six bass spawning by the bridge, giving up

something they think they love, for something they really do love.

We saw one bald eagle ascending

from the lowest to the highest point.

And on the lake again, we saw two loons and their reflections

as still as reawakening dreams.

We started on the path for home, and took it all

as a sign of something good.

Laura Rockhold is a poet and visual artist living in Minnesota. She is the inventor of the golden root poetic form and 2022 recipient of the Bring Back The Prairies Award and Southern MN Poets Society Award. Find her at: www.laurarockhold.com.