102. The Pond
Looking west over the lily pool and beyond the back yard, I could see the trees by the pond. The field gradually sloped down to the curved edge of the pond. The pond was about one acre, a little smaller than a football field, and shaped like a huge kidney. At the south end by the fence, were wild raspberry bushes.
The pond had pollywogs and bullfrogs in the shallow water by the edge, and cattails, and lots of wild birds. It was big enough to have muskrats and their houses, and to serve as a regular resting place for migrating ducks passing through on their way south for the winter. If the wind kept the snow off the ice in the center of the pond, or we could shovel a lane, we would skate.
WHOO GOES AT THE POND?
It was late afternoon at the pond by the woods
When the shadows were long and gray.
The sun slipped down behind the trees,
And evening stole the light from the day.
A deer stepped down to the pond to drink,
But she knew she couldn’t stay.
She had to get home before it got dark,
And the night folks came out to play.
Ma ‘coon tiptoed in the water to fish,
And the fox sniffed the air with his nose;
While high in the top of the evergreen tree
The big owl called, “Whoo — who goes?”
The bullfrog croaked, “Nee-deep, nee-deep,”
As he rolled his big black eyes.
He croaked, “Come over and stay for supper,”
To the hovering dragon flies.
The loon on the pond began to laugh
When the polecat chased a mouse.
The otter smiled, “I’ve had my fun.”
Then he slipped into his house.
A hush fell over the pond in the woods
When in the light of the moon that rose,
A weasel slunk along the shore,
And the big owl called, “Whoo — who goes?”