Save the smallest wild things, the overlooked
ordinary things—earthworms, baby birds, moss, deep soil.
Hold safe the green-brown smell of the woods
in spring and fall.
Save all the sequoias.
Keep safe the salamanders in the tiny stream that leaks from
the hillside by my childhood home, save their eggs,
silent as pebbles.
Enfold with safety the magic lanterns of fireflies
and the Aurora Borealis and how my feet sound
sweeping through dry leaves in autumn.
Keep forever the voices of those beloved to me—
save all the unspoken love that overflows the
bucket of my heart.
Save always the sharp awe that envelops me when
in the presence of the still and untamed beings that have been
my true saviors for all my days.
J. Pratt-Walter, © 2023
