ACCOUNT OF MY DAYS
Sequence: 4
GO TO LEONARD SPRINGS
walk past the gush and then
on the path that skirts the marsh
with its families of duck and beaver
and the overflights of swallows
to the place where the dam broke
and the stream from the marsh spills
then back to the main path curving
uphill and its link over to the road
whose chunks of coarse gravel
hurt the feet through their shoes
descending to tall grass and
walnut trees where the road becomes
a footpath again crossing
the stream where it runs shallow
washing over the face of a rockshelf
and up the other side dark pines
ground soft with dead needles
another curve uphill to the track
by the edge of the abandoned quarry
the earth's bones upended but
covering themselves with green again
and over to where the track thins
and turns rough downhill tracing
through briars to cross the lesser
ditchy end of the stream and here
a confusion as the path is so starved
of traffic it blurs into the scrub
but the dog finds the way
and I follow until blocked by
a tangle of rosebushes she can
trot under but I can't press through
I have to keep her in sight while
I swing around the tangle through
the woods to meet her where she's
no surprise found the road again
uphill trudge out of breath but
in the open now the way back clear
legs sore must look for ticks
when I get home the dog happy
though she walks a little shambly
no wonder poor thing to go so far
and in such excitement all the way