Its very quiet out here this morning.
All the chipmunks and squirrels are sleeping.
The humming birds too.
I have been grabbed by hope
instead of expectation.
Hope sometimes feels like lack.

I say this and the sounds of nature begin.
The gentle rise of the birds calling, “Hello!”.
The hum of the insects who do not pine for anything!
The crescendos of human noises far in the background.
A plane flies overhead.

There’s a ruby glow to the light on the dried grasses.
In the shadows, the trunks of trees reach deep into the earth.
They never think of the past.
They are immersed in the drenching nature of the present.
Drinking up all their needs.
Right here and now.

The spiders’ filaments shimmer translucent turquoise.
The hawk flies by six feet above the ground.
So swiftly but they do not meet.

Then I watch the hawk at work.