A blue jay brings a vivid flash of color to

the reedy branches of a naked bush

beside the pond. Songs of a

robin sweeten the air and

a mallard couple, he with

his emerald green head

and yellow beak, swim

from the shore barely

missing four geese who

peacefully approach. The

heads of the mallard couple

begin to pulse up and down to

their own tempo. Hissing brakes 

of a school bus assault the peace 

and Luna swishes her way amidst the 

pine needles and I wonder what she senses.