May I seek my counterpart and guide
less among the gracile leapers and lithe swimmers,
the tooth and claw savannah royalty
of cover photo and trophy wall,
than amid the low-slung and short-legged,
the wiry-toed and narrow-hoofed,
crevice-dwellers and cliff-clamberers
serving their little-known purpose
in a landscape not given to waste.
And may I, like them, abide step by step
in this tenuous present.
