We set out with poles and line
Into the pre-dawn dark
He leads, but I am
Uncertain through the murk and mud
I linger too long and he
Slips into the trees
And I am Alone.
Stock still
I hunch inside my sweatshirt
Like the shivering sparrows
Whose calls will have to wait.
His bootprints alight ahead of me
Careful, I walk alongside them
Mine now the same size
When only yesterday I was
Learning bunny ears in the driveway
I could’ve sworn I was holding his hand
When we left the pebbled parking lot.
As the sun starts to creep
Tendrils of spirits adorn the banks
Like admiring fathers
Angling over cribs to coo
Then like tears, the wind wipes them
Away.
Now, I see him
There
Atop an ancient boulder
Peering down into the creek
Surveying with not a little joy
A hundred shining salmon
Kissed by the morning light.
We catch eyes across
The expanse
Set down our poles
And watch them dance.
