Chance Meetings

Somewhere
amidst the orchestral tune-up
of a spring dawn
a lone nuthatch toots

Unsuspecting
I stroll the garden
stopped by an orange-legged wood turtle
his shell decorated with damp duckweed

Tucked beneath
the rampant spearmint beside the pond
an American toad peers at me
as I peer at him

Revealed
as I glance out the window
a bristle-haired possum races
the drizzle across the yard

Slithering
through new-mown grass
a three-foot milk snake
glides toward the bee balm’s shade

In unexpected
encounters
the Holy comes among us