a last enchanted morning here
our last full day in Nova Scotia
starts with us out at dawn to celebrate sunrise,
and it is spectacular!
most of the morning then devoted to a national park
where a long finger points into the ocean,
the trail along its spine full of botanical wonder:
exquisite lady-slippers,
intriguing pitcher plants,
intriguing pitcher plants,
who thrive on insects drowned at their base,
ground and bush all a-flower,
then where rock meets water,
we watch a dozen or so seals bask in the sun,
some snack in the water by their rock,
one mother tends to her clumsy child,
who drops accidentally below the water,
she retrieves him, gets him back on the rock,
they briefly nuzzle each other,
she and another large seal huff at each other,
why? I don’t know,
a little later, a pair of nesting birds, willet,
fly over and around us as if to tell us something,
maybe for us to get out of their world?
the whole morning is of wonder,
we visit plant and animal who are just fine without us,
I don’t feel we are just fine without them,
except for the insects, whose story I would love not to share.
by Henry H. Walker
June 24, ‘19
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