Thursday Poetry Blogging

For the Animals

BY LAWRENCE RAAB

for my mother
I call to them
with the names you gave me

waiting for the new moon
watching for the trembling in the trees
where the wind hides out at night

I call their secret names and they
come to me finding
the home we made for them
so much like our own with yellow flowers
and books clear windows a door at each end
to go out and come back in
chairs and a good table and everything
you could want

Your poem fills with animals

Woodchuck and beaver the sly fox
the pompous rabbit otter deer
raccoon and owl

In my house there are more of us
than I ever thought we knew
smiling and bringing presents for you

The perfect wings of the owl lift with the wind
The earth hugs the mole as a friend
The bear offers honey from his hands

I let myself fall
into the soft arms of animals and then
into their dreams

all of our secrets
returning to me falling back to me
carrying me home




Picture found here.