1.
She is three years old
standing on a pebble beach,
looking at a hermit crab.
Turning it this way and that;
studying it’s underside.
She has gone from me.
2
This morning
she catches a garter snake
by the tail,
causing it to lose its slug breakfast.
I am disgusted, but hide it;
she is not; she is fascinated.
3
In the evenings the deer
come so close and are so tame
we can almost touch them
as they pass.
4
Around the campfire,
we sit and sing.
My daughter in her counsellor’s lap
pulls out fistfuls of forgotten grass
(to much amusement)
stuffed inside her Winnie the Pooh overalls .
5
Every morning
I have to grab her back from the wild;
to quickly brush teeth and hair
and wash her protesting face.
