An audacious cardinal hops from picket to picket

his acrobatics steady, sure.

Bees hover drunkenly over tender petals

Filling branches with trembling expectation.

An anxious chipmunk skitters from tree to grass to garden

Gauging the danger with a paralyzed pause.

The trees’ choppy shadows blanket the pathway,

Mimicking the stones – envious, covetous.

I watch, neither welcomed nor rejected,

Their indifference an antidote to my arrogance.