MALLARD (for CT)

137 mph

 

faster than my walk

 

during which

I did not see Mallard

but saw instead how

pigeons landed as a squad

wingbeats synchronised

suggesting animal heuristics

we do not understand

and the purple lane shimmered in the hot afternoon

blackberry blossom competing with dog rose

in a pink haze

a field away a deer made off startled

perhaps by me

and I saw a yellow wagtail

whose sweet simple call summoned my attention

and was answered from somewhere beneath the wild honeysuckle

by his invisible mate

attracted to the morsel he was bringing

and we looked at each other

wagtail and I

five feet apart

and I thought how like his life is mine

a morsel here

a morsel there

just doing the best we can

going along

one foot in front of the other

and I did not think of validation
or at least, did not think I thought of validation

nor of striking deals with tie flicking egos

but thought instead of doing what I say

of standing tall in the mirror of my life

bringing the promised morsel

without cringing away in embarrassment

good enough

to have walked, one foot in front of the other,

good enough

to have brought that morsel

good enough

a kind of validation.