Deborah Keenan Portrait of Soon XXXXXX…Perhaps the earth can teach us XXXXXX As when everything seems dead in winter XXXXXX And later proves to be alive. XXXXXXXXXXXX from Keeping Quiet, Pablo Neruda Raccoons wrap their claws In gauze, quiet as they cross Linoleum, open the refrigerator, Take only the fresh fruit, The best vegetables. Safely back in their winter Forest they fling the gauze Skyward, decorate the sleeping Oaks, streamers calm and white. The peony roots keep secret, Avoid the crazy neighbor With the roto-tiller, roots Plunge straight down, commit To another Spring, to giant White blooms streaked With nature’s quiet bloodlines. The last one hundred tigers hold Private meetings, plan the screaming Deaths of zebras, decide to fight to stay A part of this noisy planet, whomever They must kill.