Perplexed Duck
The Lake in Winter
winter weather is here
the lake has a frozen crust
ducks stand around perplexed by solid water
they peck at the ice as if expecting food
they shuffle about like old people
wearing slipper socks on a slippery floor
but they don’t fall, and if they do
they have not far to go
we stood and watched them,
glowing in the brilliant sunlight
then started to walk away and they scattered suddenly
for no apparent reason but then two eagles cruised by
looking for ducks perhaps, or maybe not
surely it would have been so easy to swoop down and grab one
next a river otter hiding beneath the dock
where there was no ice
came out briefly chewing on something we couldn’t see
before it went back into hiding
now a hawk, a large red tail
harassed by crows it leaves its high perch
leisurely sails away, regal, nonplussed by its pursuers
it soon disappears like the otter, but into the sky
quite frozen we turn towards home now
when we find a skull hung from a branch by the path
a cow we assume, whence it came a mystery
no cows here for decades yet there it hangs
like a relic from the desert
we examine and leave it there
looking up we see the eagle swirling about
riding the updraft or merely the wind
it circles several times then heads away
towards a perch atop a tall tree,
coming to rest seemingly implacable
the master of all beneath its imperious gaze
it hardly bothers to see us as we walk by
no doubt it paid us no heed
though we looked up and admired it with looks that said
we hold you in awe and though we do not scatter when you come
we are grateful you deign not attack us
a natural fact of which we are secretly worried
lest it not be an infallible truth
nathanguitars 