When morning sun rises

to the canopy of conifers and

hummingbirds hover over sepals

of coneflowers and trout ascend to

stream’s surface as

dragonflies’ eggs float on lily

pads with azure light illuminating

mallards in flight—all the words ever

puffed out with mouthfuls of air in

argument and entertainment, philosophy

and banter, ritual and gossip, sway a

Cyprus needle as it turns toward

light vast and fathomless and silent as

breath diffusing into spaces beyond our

telescopes…

silhouetting conifers as this human

vapor condenses on a nodule with

hummingbirds sighing and trout completing

their expiration and dragonflies’ eggs

swelling and molting with mallards arching

overhead shimmering on

streams flowing deeper than

dream, more suddenly than

serenity, and with a stillness

stunning

the

morning.