Ricocheted Into Our Better Selves
From the field a moose leads by example—
crossing the road, returning, pacing, waiting
for her slick-born calf, all long-legged maybe.
Cars pile up, both coming and going, full
of sudden witnesses. The mama now a fierce
dead center roadblock. The baby steps, lifts her
hooves high, high over that strange hard top
then follows her furred mother into the forest.
Travel resumes, but those moments go viral.
Each time you watch, who are you?
The bold skittery mom stopping traffic?
The calf distracted by the stink of asphalt,
the growl of pickups idling? A passenger
crooning, come on, Babycakes, you can do it?
Or do you sit, dumbstruck by this ephemeral
world where everyone’s capacious with grace?
Replay this rebuttal to the daily news, this salve,
this desire to ricochet, again and again, along
that gunshot straight road, before all we
wildlife disappear into the hazardous unknown.
