ONE MORE OFFERING FROM POET LAUREATE ALAN

Here is the last one for tonight - read on down for the background on this string of posts:

LITTLE HOUSE ON THE JACK'S FORK RIVER
                            for Stacie and Jess
      we joked
   like little house
 on the prairie?

      but why did you
   go down there
 so far away?

      you hate snakes, and every
   week, there are some copperheads
 under your front porch...

      it seems a half dozen
   coyotes are getting closer
 & eyeing your dogs...

      a black bear
   broke into your new beehive
 & made off with all the honey...

      while swimming in the river
   a water moccasin
 got in your shoes, on the shore...

      so what is there
   about it,
 down there?

      there is
   a silence
 coming in at dusk...

      where the haze
   & mist
 rise up from the river...

      as the fireflies
   move with direction, with their
 white, soundless, flight...

      guiding them
   where only they
 know where to go.