The Nature of Things
~Marcia Beck
Not without grace
the white pelican makes its silent-winged ascent
in search of inland lakes.
Not without grace
the chokeberry offers semi-sweet salubrity
from within its swampy realm.
Not without grace
the notch-beaked peregrine devours its prey
on the butte’s serrated mass.
Not without grace
the black-tailed deer reaps sustenance
among gleaming lobes of poison oak.
Not without grace
the queen bee gives glandular rise
to the hive’s unselfish swarm.
Not without grace
your ashes share the earth
with the roots of our persimmon tree.
