One Way

fed up I took the trail into the

forest no breadcrumbs no map

starlight hidden by sunlight I

followed leaf buds to the pond

where the froth of frog spawn

glistened like a secret studded

with tadpoles nearly ripe their

amphibious lives blossoming

into this green day all day I’ve

been telling myself a story all

comes to heartache and loss

still

the pond grass sways with 

the lightest current stirred by

the wind a song sparrow

clutches a slender twig turns 

her fawn breast to the light just

so to shimmer the merganser 

I startled lifts feathered her body

dripping from the river of water

to the river of sky sails north then 

back south high above my head— 

there is always a way to return

-Rebecca Siegel