Red-tail at Rest
by Lynn Rigney Schott

--Stephen (3/4/07)

Red-tail at Rest

for Stephen (3/4/07)

I walk where the deer walk
xxxfollowing those little cleft hearts
xxxxxxthat punctuate the snow
xxxxxxxxxwith their aimless ellipsis

Winter not sure where it's going anymore

Beneath the immense locust
xxxlies the hawk
revealed now as the snow melts
xxxits burnt-red feathers an exotic fan
xxxxxxits beak a perfect thorn
xxxxxxxxxits eye blank

And oh, those shoulders, those wings!

Gold lichen and moss-green moss
xxxa mass on the north side of the tree
colonizing the rough scars in the graying bark
xxxsinews curving across the great girth of trunk
xxxxxxcrammed with flotsam of storm and season

At rest at last
xxxin a last patch of snow
xxxxxxthis the headstone that holds her

Then xxxa blackbird calling xxxover there
xxxoff toward the pond xxxyes yes

xxxthis world is full of emptiness
xxxxxxreadiness and wonders

Lynn Rigney Schott teaches at Kettle Falls High School, loves baseball and writes poetry.

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