A Week At The Cabin-Day One: Ask the Turtle

Cabin Day One: Ask the Turtle

Walking through Yarrow and daisies in the ditch as cars fly by

I spy a dead Snapping Turtle next to an anthill

And a Subway cup tossed carelessly from a passing car.

The ferns are tall and verdant next to scarred popple trees, 

the sky blue with scattered, wispy cirrus clouds, 

and the air fragrant.

Wisconsin summer, colder than some yet still beautiful. 

I raise you your harsh, snowy winters 

and ask for more temperance.

Ask the turtle who hides under ice and hollow log what she wants. 

More summer or a buttercup.
Something to eat and the sun on her shell.

Give me more days like this one, content in my carapace, 

walking through green, even as I shield myself 

from speeding cars on County Road W that never slow down.