Spring Comes to the Wetlands

Spring Comes to the Wetlands

The walk to the Cypress Wetlands

is all fragrance, Meyer Lemon

trees, red pink white azaleas

overtaking the stink wafting up

from down the coast, sneering faces

on my tv replaced by egrets,

white feathers fluffed up, moorhens

pacing, circling, heads dipping

next to turtles on a log, an anhinga’s

wings spread like a delicate fan, greens

and blues, yellow and black-crown

night herons building nests, ibises flying

in at orange dusk, the squawking all

around drowning out hate-

filled voices as the gator’s fearsome

mouth opens, moaning for love.

–SL, Port Royal, SC, March 2023