WhittleseyBy: Matt Welter |
This is the refuge we take part in.
Under our feet the ground hardens
and by winter the frost heaves
will crack the freshly paved highway
that divides it.
But come spring the creeks will flow
in trickles and in oxbows.
Ice will slosh out into Lake Superior.
Skunk cabbage flowers will finger
their way out of the floodplain.
With our help,
those areas that seem like empty lots of grass,
are reclaiming themselves.
Winnowing up the dawn.
Cicading the mid-day heat.
Turtleheads will collect whole amber sunsets
in the creaminess of their almost speaking flowers.
Short-eared owls will cackle away the night
with cobblestone choruses of wood frogs
and leopard frogs banjo jams.
This is not our refuge
or the refuge for just fish, plants and animals.
This is our great, great, grandchildren=s heritage,
the gift we hand down.
We are giving them hope
of late blooming asters when the grass turns to straw.
We are passing them whole dragonfly wonders.
We are keeping the last artesian trickles before the freeze.
