the universe has its own plans

a wish list, and the universe

the otters did not show at Trout Lake for us today,

we did see some roe on a log

where they must have consumed a cutthroat trout recently,

we saw some scat, with a decidedly fishy smell,

but the trout were minimal

and the otters did not find us today,

so it must not be a good time to teach their young to fish, 

four years ago we lucked into a female teaching four young,

and her mate resting on a log with her sister,

we had better luck down the valley

and up along the Yellowstone River,

high above it, there where the river has cut through huge volcanic deposits,

of ash, mudflow conglomerates, and basaltic cliffs,

there, high on a slope I would feel precarious, deadly,

we found a female bighorn sheep scampering down a steep slope

to another ewe who sat there resting, in repose,

as if she were queen here,

a third ewe came toward them through the flowered meadow

where they must often feed,

she merrily munched as she moved to the cliff,

I photographed her there

and as she descended to join her sisters,






yesterday I snapped a picture of a mountain goat,

high up the slopes of a distant snow-dabbled mountain,

it just a speck of moving white,

Mountain Goat is at center of picture,
 the white dot to left and below two patches of snow,
one right above the other.

no matter how much we want to see animals,

our wild, large, mammal cousins,

they have their own life,

we can work to learn enough of them

to hope we can increase our chance of encounters,

maybe wolves tomorrow?

we always hope of bear,

for sure we will find ourselves

where mountain valley, and stream are glorious,

where flower and bison are ubiquitous,

where any moment is of wonder,

if can but open ourselves

to the randomness of a gift,

to consider our wish list as suggestions

that the universe doesn’t check before it is.

by Henry H. Walker

July 7, ’17