floating and leaving no trace
dead rat
already stiff
by my car tire
i never hit you
nor bore you malice
intact
it seems you
were prey
of neither cat nor hawk
your black
eyes shine
reflecting a late
afternoon sun
you were never
my friend
but i wonder
if you were poisoned
or just looking for shade
and if you knew today’s dawn
was your last
1.
white rabbit
white rabbit
white rabbit
2.
but today i saw
a dead rat
in the street
a very alive squirrel
inches away on a fence
and two brown bunnies
eating in the cool dusk light
3.
the peach tree gave me
her last four peaches
they were perfect
the color of summer
i watch the rat as he eats
the fallen seed the birds have dropped
in this early dusk. this spring
evening as the sun retreats
i have no animosity for the furry mopped
rodent. he’s not stealing from the finches
and the sinking sun makes him a soft thing
who measures his days in inches
——
it scurries through grass
and faster than the eye
can track
it is gone
down into the ditch
over a wall
along the fence
you catch it only
when it pauses to feed
displacing birds
and gnawing at thistle
you move
and it disappears
again
a streak of gray
and wrinkled
pink
tail
Words and Feathers 