Near Summer

 

In Nauset marsh sea insects climb

sea grasses; sit, wait half a tide

to come down. Half a

tide is sometimes half an insect's life.

 

They wait while below nearly hollow crabs

slip sideways, eels shimmy, minnows

drill rickrack lines. We wait,

 

don't you know, often for summer

even in it. Some thing, some event

will make it happen. Sparrows and

marsh wrens dip to thread through.

copyright Ellen Tifft