not time

sheer walls

exposed 

not time

undid it 

full of horizon

golden shouldered 

slot canyon

an overlapped kaleidoscope 

each time reaction mirroring

the previous before

magnified 

undimmed 

the aftermath is goodbye 

it was beautiful

~

pond by the library

in a matter of thirty seconds I saw

a mink carry off a fish shelved in its mouth to the shore

to disappear below thawing tree roots

an individual duck exposes itself afar from the others

while a heron overhead glides down for an exacting strike

a duck swimming in the shallows dunks its head below for a moment

in a still gasp of witnessing stuck in my tracks 

frozen like the pond out in front of me

with its sheets of ice swaying on the surface

flying away rising in height overhead 

the sound of a faint panic near then silent

the sky keeps going