Sticks are too small to waste her time with
Only branches will do
I break a nice big one down to 5 feet
 we walk down to the stream
We could go on and on
 forever casting and fetching
I throw it out beyond the bend
 she stops as she approaches it
 her face all perplexity
 and looks into the water just under her
With a strange backward digging effort
 she thrashes
 dives her head into the water
 and exhumes a waterlogged 12–foot branch
With glee, she trots back with it
Sometimes, she’ll voraciously
 chew up an over–sized log dredged from the depths
 biting away in continuous joy and concentrated angst
 with the occasional bit of wood wedged in her teeth
 Sometimes, she’ll disintegrate the whole thing to shreds
This time, we cast and fetch
 over and over
 a rainbow in each splash
Too big for us to carry away in comfort

We cross the bridge
and the water there is perfect,
wide and deep
with a soft beach for entry
 Cast, cast, cast
 Swim, swim, swim
 Fetch, fetch, fetch
While Lexi furtively fetches
I lean upon the rusting railing in repose
After a fetch, I calmly gaze upon a pair of yellow–winged butterflies
 Hip, hop, hip, hop, along the beach
One flutters a foot; the other follows
Then, stillness; their wings parallel, vertical
The moment holds its breath
while still calmly breathing
easy, like the gentle breeze that crowns us

Wings open
Her wings open in one majestic bloom
 neither slow nor fast
 not confident or timid
 but all those things and none
 such she unfolds her world to him
He gazes upon her pattern
while another epoch quietly breathes withheld breath

He pounces upon her
Her wings fly up, a Venus encircling him
My heart exalts that such ravishing peace could exist in the world
My brain, dizzy, torn asunder
How long, I wonder,
could this incredible little bliss be permitted to exist
I pause, grateful for each second
as Lexi pleads for another fetch
Lest she bark, I contrive to throw the branch over the other side
But, upon my first movement, she careens down the sand into the water

He disappears
She hops from one rock to the other and back to their love-patch
in despair, love–lost.
In a fortunate bizarre twist,
Lexi goes under the bridge and up the other side
Lady butterfly hops
I wait, another epoch
Just a half epoch
He comes from nowhere
and, instantly, they rejoin in their double–V

Down the path we go, to leave them to the delight of the world
I have to laugh at myself for thinking 30 minutes enough for eternity
for, when we double–back later
and I've promised Lexi a proper romp in the perfect water,
I realize that she’s disturbed them again