TWO BLACK SQUIRRELS IN WINTER

On a paper-white winter day,

two ink-black squirrels

tussled in circles

under and over

the sheet of snow, then

abruptly

both stopped

bolt upright

still as little stumps.

Had they spied me?

Or did other danger

lurk?

I looked about,

turned back

- squirrels gone.

Telltale paw prints

led to a leafless maple.

where they hunched high up,

plumed tails like feather pens

curled over their backs,

chattering and snicking,

two pent up school kids

out for recess,

enjoying some private joke on me.

Then I looked back at

their scribbling in the snow.

Suddenly I was chuckling with the squirrels,

for in the hieroglyphs of paw prints,

I read their invitation:

I flopped on my back

and made a snow angel.