The dolphin was all undulation,
riding its whims and churning
the ocean, dorsal fin and bottlenose
alternately visible. A pelican followed it,
not interested, as I wasn’t either,
in the splendor of the occasion.
The pelican was soon full
of what could have been a school
of anchovy or mullet, a school where
some could escape the acceptable cruelty
of nature, others put in that halfway house
between maw and digestion.
From the shore where I stood, my dog
barked at what he must
have seen as good animal fun,
or once again a creature
with a big mouth having its way.
I took it all in, thinking that to step out
of our houses any morning is to risk
being variously selected, and that nothing
like kindness or beauty or justice
will ever change the truth of some lives.