Survival

There, he has it, his reward
for patiently skimming the lake,
diving and surfacing, mournfully
at times, maniacally sometimes calling
his lot in life as a primal-featured
animal, black and white, those
contrasts reflecting the tenor
and timbre of his calls resounding
and ricocheting over the lake,
hitting the forest beyond and the
granite outcroppings balancing
the shoreline reflecting the
Canadian Shield. His prize, a
silver and survival-desperate
rainbow, struggling to be free
while the loon has its own purpose;
the caught fish a meal to be relished,
whole and yet live, another of
nature's many little exquisite details
in her blueprint of fundamentals.