What's Tony Thinking

From the Wallowas

We are enjoying a short week at our cabin in the Wallowas.

Yesterday I hiked to Aneroid Lake with friends David and Miles. Here’s a photo of the lake. Note the new snow, partly in shade and partly in sun. Not far from the lake we heard an elk bugling his mating call. He sounded pretty lonely. Hope it worked.

This morning a gorgeous fox was in the field below the cabin.

And here’s a little poem, written at our outside fire ring the other evening.

Evening Prayer, At the Cabin

As afternoon eases to evening
Swallows signal the call to worship
shooting the heavens
performing acrobatics of praise over the waters

At ground level
deer appear
as a revelation
Sometimes two bucks,
elegantly horny,
or a single doe
quieter than breathing

Then as shadows lengthen and play tricks
“Is that a bear?”
“It’s a bear!”
All stand
we confess our sins
the bear swings his head to and fro, like a judge

Bats take up the collection
of bugs
Creasing the sky above an evening fire
Most high in the sky
but suddenly one swoops low
Cover your head!
“Do bats really get in a person’s hair?”

“Preacher, that sermon got a little too close for comfort.”

To the owls
belongs the benediction in starry darkness
First one
“hoo hoo . . . hoo hoo,”
then, just when you’ve given up,
a distant answer
“hoo hoo, hoo hoo”

This blessing
requires a response