Water Rat Embarks
Tawny, restless, undiminished
by passing years, he bids fare-
well to snug burrows, bristling
seas of oats, and oaken stumps
and funguses, the castles of his
childhood. Good-bye, red robin!
Farewell, field-mice, swallows,
stoats! A southern wind is rising.
Evensong is calling. Time to steal
aboard a steamer, Adriatic-bound.
O, Venice! This bedraggled Ocean
Rat will sun his whiskers in your
gardens, bunk in your cellars, hop
from gondola to gondola on time-
worn feet, and before he dies, splash
your Grand Canal across his inner eye.
Amy Karon
Amy Karon's poems have appeared in Eastern Iowa Review, Cricket, Half Mystic, Blanket Sea, Lagan Online, and Mystic Blue Review. She lives in San Jose.