Ode to a Snapping Turtle

Early on a summer day she emerges from the forest

to give birth.

On the shoulder of our gravel road she digs a hole with her hind feet

and slowly drops her eggs.

She fills in the hole, pats it smooth, and retreats to her secret pool

in the forest.

I observe this wonder, and am comforted to think

that she and her daughters, and theirs,

Will be doing this long after I am gone.

Stuart Hibben
Swarthmore