This morning I track our cat
who is tracking a chipmunk
who is sitting perfectly still
on the rock wall that runs under

the cherry tree by the pond.
I see our intrepid hunter turn
her attention away from her prey

and turn her gaze toward the pond
to just above the yellow irises
and there you are facing away,
standing on a flat stone

with one leg lifted to your knee
in a tai chi pose that you hold
for an infinite second.
 
Slowly you bring your attention
down to the level of the water
where a green heron waits
with its dagger-like bill perched

over the liquid surface waiting
for a frog to give itself up.
Struck by the mystery of this tableau

I fall in love with the chipmunk,
our cat, the cherry tree, the stone wall,
the irises, the pond, you, the heron
and the poor doomed frog.

i fall in love with the thought
that in this instant we all exist
and soon will not