Frogs in a Swale near the Wawona Library by Daniel Williams

Early spring they rivet
From behind granite boulders
You can’t see them
Encircled by tall sedges
At the end of the library
Parking lot

At first undecided
You stop in your steps
Trying to choose between
Two books of interest-
One the library
The other the natural world

If you step through glass doors
Serious tomes quiet with ideas
To be perceived
If you trudge over
To the frogs’ pond
rhythmic voices suddenly
Silenced
As your shadow or footfall
Precedes you

Silence
The green world’s wisdom
Protecting its creatures from
Coyote owl or hawk

In the library
Its books waiting to leap
Down from its shelves
a sign tells you
You must be silent
If you would fall prey
To them