- write4hire
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
