In Their Element

The great blue vault of the sky
yawns wide and deep over the
living green canopy stretched below.
The caretaking sun sends
probing rays of warm light
through that broad green reach
to illuminate the noonday gloom
within. Water striders delicately
ripple a stream in the forested
ravine as Damselflies lift their
exquisite bodies gleaming
iridescent rays of colour back
at the sun. A crimson streak shoots
from tree to tree and the cardinal
roosts to peal its superb trill.
Close by, juvenile finches
studiously and avidly search out
tidbits on leafy branches. A
cluster of flowering yarrow,
Queen Anne's lace and perky asters
tease aerially meandering bees
under the clatter of an old tree
trunk where a Pileated woodpecker
has come knocking to introduce
its appetite to the localized residents.