Greenbriar

As a child
on the banks
of Greenbriar
Lake he dreamt
the hills on the
far shore were
the bones of
ancient sea
creatures.

This, a claw
that, it's lobster.
Skeletons covered
in the moss of
untold eons--
copperhead under
skunk fern under
tulip poplar.

His mooneyes saw
the world wild
and in danger
of being swallowed
by a mouth of fire,
this cool drop in
all that burning.

D. Hartley