A gnat buzzing in your ear

The tang of bug spray

Sunlight beating on your back

Tiny ripples kissing the sides of the canoe

Thunder pealing from your father’s throat

The Dragonfly King sleeps on,

Loyal subjects adorning his crooked nose and tilted hat

A faint breeze combing through the trees

A loving mother caressing the hair of her child

Flick of your wrist

Whirr of the release

Round sound of contact on the

Water a mirror of the hawk and its razor wings

Slicing through the single cloud

A sleek silhouette strained to be seen in the simmering sun

The anticipation

Burning

Like sweat dripping in your eyes and off your chin

Yet more still

More patient

And kind