Strange crossings

Now that we've had drought and flood
we've seen the many transits
of Spring and Summer
of Spring to Summer
of Summer to something else

we've seen strange crossings
the turtle crossing road just outside of Smith's Falls
painted or snapping, unusually Blanding's

on the chemin d'Aylmer
ducks crossing proudly from the Ottawa River
to the wetlands to the north
the grass is always greener
and under the Heron transitway station
road to aylmer just outside of downtown
and leopard frogs crossing under heron transitway station
in the rain

nor did any of these have plausible deniability
when they so blatantly flaunted their need
to take the right of way
to enjoy what's straightforwardly theirs

and any who challenge their plodding persistence
are surely unreliable witnesses
testifying to fake news and alternative facts

when clearly seeing is believing
whatever the orange man says

and says again
"What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening"

pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

when making all of Summer's strange crossings

sure in the hope

God loves the wildebeast

bringing rain in their midst

from the Serengeti west

as they consume many more times their weight

migrating to Kenya from Tanzania

and back again.