This Evening

Out back on 

The patio this evening 

A pint of fragrant stout 

 and a book of poetry by my elbow 

Crickets rasp sweetly somewhere 

Heat of the day gone soft 

The hammock beckons 

Over the trees a fingernail sliver 

Of new moon hangs 

In the far distance 

A freight train blows 

That lonesome horn 

Cardinal sings a measure 

 Of honeyed notes 

Monarch butterfly

Regal in orange and black 

 Wanders in the flowers here there 

And pauses at the milkweed. 

High in the black walnut 

A squirrel scolds. 

Cottonwood leaves in the middle distance 

Rustle in a petulant breeze. 

Then The air is still 

As if the soil was breathing 

And we all stopped to listen