Clover Games

Red tail stirring clover

Sunlight on my nose

Something painted drifts by

Where the wild meadow grows

Little wings like lanterns

Looping airy rings

I crouch in the clover

Just to scatter her wind

She lifts when I pounce

Like she knew all along

That a fox in the meadow

Can’t help playing along

So I dance with the butterfly

Round and round in the sky

She spins trails of silver air

Then slips past my eyes

I dart through the clover

She rises just right

A fox and a flicker of wings

Playing games in the light

She lands for a heartbeat

On the tip of a reed

Like a dare in the daylight

Too tempting to leave

I pounce through the clover

Just to scatter her flight

And she stitches the sunlight

Back into the sky

But the grass bends wrong

Like a seam pulled wide

Something patient is listening

Under clover and thyme

Still I dance with the butterfly

Laughing up at the sky

She paints little circles of air

Just ahead of my feet

I tumble and chase her

Through clover and heat

A fox and a shimmer of wings

Never missing a beat

A ripple lifts the reeds

As her flight threads the breeze

Silver notes like laughter

Dancing through the trees

But she climbs into sunlight

Too quick to be caught

So I grin through my whiskers

And pretend that it's not

The meadow sinks si-si-silent

And the warm wind s-slips still

Soft clover s-splits slowly

Along the hill

She lifts for the sun-sun-sunlight

Silver and small

Something below

Starts lis-lis-listening to it all

I danced with the but-but-butterfly

Out in the clover sky

Back when the meadow was la-la-laughing

And nothing watched from be-be-below