Today a little fence lizard
as brown as dirt
scaly and speckled
quick as a wink
leapt from my hand
it made me laugh
the leaping seemed
so wonderfully
spontaneous

And that proved all
I needed to
let down my guard
and let the day
become a song
the trees were singing
while the wind
caressed their leaves

Later I came upon
a tiny snake
no bigger
than a worm
in girth
though twice as long
It too lay there
in my hand
a moment
then was gone

I thought how is it
these small lives
continue to give meaning
to our life
although we think ourselves
so far above them

Perhaps part of the answer
lies in words
that I heard spoken
years ago
the words had context
then but seem
as true now
as significant
as when I heard them

The thought is simple
God who watches all
watches us always
through the eyes
of animals

Back then I thought of
dogs and cats
of elephants and other
animals we choose to
honor with intelligence

But now I think
a bird, a lizard even
a small snake is serving
as a witness
to our wisdom
folly
kindness, cruelty

That being so
then the delight I took
as a small child
in salamanders
lturtles, snakes
in grasshoppers
and beetles
in part came from
the sense of being seen
by God or by the living
world outside
beyond the confines
of the home

Not sensing yet the life
within myself
these little creatures held for me
the quickening spirit that
my soul was reaching for

And that's perhaps the only God
I can imagine
the one who watches
through the eyes
of animals