“Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?”–Job 35:11 ESV
by Margery Hannah
like water freed from a leaf
one tap at a time
after a rain storm
I shared a secret
A fox licked all the
water off the leaf
and threw it into a dream
fluffed and bronzed
smooth-eyed
and borrowing confidence
unbeknownst to me
from me
Each dream he motioned into
reality and I watched
moisture foam
in the fox’s mouth
He accomplished more
than any fox before him
He kept the rain off
the leaf while
still keeping the leaf wet
To be a muse I was happy
Every secret I told
he ripened into desert food
and sand rats soon followed us
He ate them, and loved the fat
on their backs
Soon he wanted them fatter
so he began to let
the sand rats eat the leaves
Forgetting the secret, but
remembering the dream
soon the leaves were no more
Without leaves to lick, he no
longer spun dreams for me
But chased fat sand rats and I
became the caretaker
of them
© Margery Hannah 2007-2022 All Rights Reserved.
Illustration copyright Margery Hannah. All rights reserved.
