Wednesday, July 10, 2013

grace touches us


otters

this morning grace touches us at Trout Lake,
grace as a mother otter and her 3 pups,
all sleek and tumbling around each other
like dark chocolate puppies playing,
a dead fir tree, just at the edge of the lake in the water,
and just above its surface,
serves as playground and school,
mother and pups so intertwined at times it is hard to see
where one stops and another starts,

 

in and out of the water the mother sleekly slips,
all muscle and curve and intensity of mothering,
a deep throaty call from her 
to nudge the young to correctness,
they who play and nip at each other,
and who each wants mother’s favor,
their calls more high-pitched and less sure,

she deftly slips into and out of the water
as there are no bones in her back,

she hauls out a tail-section of a cutthroat trout
and attacks it with her sharp teeth,
challenging the pups to get in touch with the inner carnivore,


only one of the young gets it for now,

we love to watch her lead them across the lake,
her at the piercing heat of a “V” wake,
the pups just behind,


graces touches us
and the otters are a way she works today.

by Henry H. Walker
June 26, ’13

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