Down the Sleepy Canals

under the blazing

blue skies of winter

the alligators are

on the banks

collecting the sun

they are thick as can be,

body-to-body,

fed on fish

and wading birds.

They pay no mind

to the highway traveler

unless he misses a turn

and becomes their supper.

A hundred million

years in the making,

this new human

and his metal lunch

box delivery

are accepted with

the grace of

a waiting Buddha.