The Moon Over Jasper Lake
The moon over Jasper Lake
dimly smothers the viscous fish
and blinds and binds
their glaring eyes and mouths
as they stare and gape against it.
The reeds around the hooded herons
jut between their scaly legs,
rocking back and forth,
trying to defy the ground which grips them,
hoping to hide from what hovers above.
Wide-eyed owls pose on their posts,
peering at what steals beneath them,
not out of interest but of paranoia
from the fearful thought
that even they are prey in the eye of the sky.
Paths creep within the trees
cracked and trodden,
daring those who wander
to continue their course toward menace
though never to awake what hangs nearby.
Soon the crazed blood of the wild
will flow smooth beneath the golden wreath
and the shuddering air of the gloaming
will finally be warmed
by the coming of the Father's dawning.