conversation with a fisherman:

the deer morph from leafy screens
shy, reticent and canny
to the changed air

the mole seeks its chance to forage
pragmatic swimmer carried
by strokes meant for digging earth

a rabbit flees from ferrets
confused enough to tarry
at the lake’s edge
before the necessary plunge

and all the while
leather carps indulge
slow, sluggish and unhurried
by the fishermen

all is hidden from the busy walker
the strolling mother and her buggy
the lovers wrapped in dreamy vistas
the couple with the wheelchair

they wow the swooping swans
they mew the gosling geese
survey the vines’ late ripening
and spy the parrot in its showy flight

and all the while in quiet diligence

the gardener trims and prunes and tidies
the steward notes the signs of growing stock
the groundsman checks for wear and tear
the fisherman plays hide and seek with fish

so that “when you good folk have all gone home”
the deer can morph from leafy screens
and retrieve the landscape as their own

“when you good folk have all gone home”

.