I met a box turtle today
    at the head of our hollow

        beside black raspberries
            just beginning to ripen

        under the trees where small green
            pawpaws grow waiting for September.

She sat patiently as lightning bugs
raised up from the creek banks

        I sat with her for a while
        watching the sunset

             against hazy smoke-filled air

thinking of how wonderful it was
        for us both to be there for those moments

dark creeped over the hills.