Warbling up great canyons,
drifting over silent spaces of time.
When the moon fills,
when the night is soft,
loon laughter transforms
wildness into song.
It calls to another.
It dances on the
webbed feet
of the wind.
It mates whispering silence
to sound, reckless
and uninhibited,
primitive and
unbroken,
indigenous,
rowdy,
untouched.
Loon laughter echoes proudly over the hills.
It seeps into the cracks of untamed places.
It is reluctant to go to domesticated venues.
It watches purposefully over the North.
Wait for it.
Be ready for it.
Silence when it speaks.
Know you are listening
to the early,
distant sounds
of our first genesis.
We want it to last but then,
night swallows it up
in its ethereal embrace.
Testing the waters for truth,
measuring creation for its worth,
watchful of wilderness,
witness to God’s humor.
In tremolo,
haunting sounds
and unrehearsed
yodels.
From "The Poetry of Life: Who's Watching Who?" Published June 2, 2019. A great book for Father's Day. A book for a friend who enjoys the outdoors. For anyone who celebrates the wild.