Drowning in light

they settle under shade.

The adjacent waterway

is alive.

Rebecca can’t explain

or replicate elsewhere

the ham-fisted alchemy of him.

A venomous snake plays inadvertent,

mortality is a gift.

Under a blue-jean sky seamed with parrots

three dogs worry sticks that dare to clutter

this obedient parkgrass.

Their river drools.

He picks ladybirds from her mandolin.

Spoor lands on their hair, the allergens

of a life together, this flawless

emergency

that they are.