albino chipmunks

inhabit     our yard     

and I     roll gingerly     

over      their holes     

while the mower blades

chop     and drone     


What wondrous Love is this,

O my soul, O my soul!

What wondrous love is this

O my soul!


we first saw one     three

summers ago     the girls

named him      Snowball     Oh!

Snowball!     each day we spotted

him     pale in the grass     evading

shadows     [hawk]     overhead


What wondrous Love is this

That caused the Lord of bliss,


last week I joined a protest

supporting migrants     detained

in County Corrections      outside

the fence          we picketed     

while     on the boulevard     

passing cars honked      approval     



inside     one inmate taped

a sign in a window     "God

Bless You"     waved and waved



To bear the dreadful curse

For my soul, for my soul,



while the crackdown     

intensifies     we have     

for today     farmer's market     

vegetables     to grill on the deck     

under cloudless sky     framed

by lush trees     grass underfoot



and since chipmunks     live

at most      for two years     

these two albinos     skittering     

through     the bushes     

must     by our count     

be Snowball's children



To bear the dreadful curse

For my soul!



sometimes     our neighbors

ask     [wingbeat]     have you

seen     them?