This is when the doe arrive
and the flowers bear petals.
This is what the hummingbird saw.
The ducks arrived
with yawps and quacks
and finally settled down.
One duck sat upon an oval
and laid her eggs
like salmon before they die.
Behind her tail, in the weeds, a snake.
It discovered patience. In time,
the duck went to drink from the river.
And then the first theft.
Tom Holmes is the editor of Redactions: Poetry, Poetics, & Prose and the author of six collections of poetry. His writings about wine, poetry book reviews, and poetry can be found at his blog, The Line Break: http://thelinebreak.wordpress.com.
