Courtship

The Courtship

At first I thouight it was a coyote
for being so tall.
I rode closer on the mower.
Rusty hair, long stick legs
Ruinously skinny--like a derelict.
I sat and watched him for a while
poking at something in the grass
then looking up in my direction
and poking the grass again.
I opened the throttle and rushed him.
Useless.
He almost leasurely--I want to say disgustedly--
poked again and ran off toward the park
with something hanging from his mouth.

What struck me
was how he carried the what? chipmunk?
Baby rabbit?
Carried it like a mother cat
carries a newborn kitten
and yes, I remember now
how, when he ran across the sun,
the thing suddenly glistened...

sparkled!

like a new wife's hand.