THE COTTAGE STEPS

A path dips from the cottage to the shore;
Green Bay flickers like Grandpa's Swedish brogue.
Two years old, I step down, too poised to speak,
Where lady's slippers dance between the stones.

The flowers have my welfare in their hands,
For Grandma has not missed me as of yet.
Two springs tall, I bend down, touch the surface
Of a secret whose clean I can't forget.

(1992)