Emergence

Emergence

        Ankeny Wildlife Refuge

The Rail Trail’s shotgunned sign, squashed masks, 
and slick boardwalk are engagements of neglect
that don’t faze the song sparrow, the wren
riding out winter among the purple leaves and red berries 
of the climbing nightshade’s narcotic poise.
Moss hangs from swampy ash trees, 
dusky Canada geese seek asylum in bright America, 
and the secretive snail-hunting rail 
pulls us close, pointing, passing binoculars. You, 
then me, focusing on love’s same emergence.   

Henry Hughes teaches at Western Oregon University and directs Write Place: Literature, Arts & the Environment.