By George Starbuck
Here is the grackle, people.
Here is the fox, folks.
The grackle sits in the bracken. The fox
hopes.
Here are the fronds, friends,
that cover the fox.
The fronds get in a frenzy. The grackle
looks.
Here are the ticks, tykes,
that live in the leaves, loves.
The fox is confounded,
and God is above.
George Starbuck, “Fable for Blackboard” from Bone Thoughts. Copyright © 1960 by George Starbuck. Reprinted with the permission of Yale University Press.
Source: The Works: Poems Selected from Five Decades (The University of Alabama Press, 2003)
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