Sun-warmed stone
lures you out, garter snake.
Harmless beauty, sleekly black
and greenish gold, gleaming in your new spring skin.
Settled and serene
— perhaps sleeping? You're draped
across the sidewalk's step
like an abandoned jump rope
dropped by an absent grandchild.
Which of us is more startled?
You, who saw the threat of death descending?
Or I, who skipped a step, lurching
to avoid your sudden-vacant space?
You vanished between slate and grasses —
I landed safely on the walkway.
We go our separate ways.
I write of it with pulse still pounding.
