This is our home…
Said the loon that your phone recorded,
Said the black bear that swam across the lake,
the wolf said as she howled to her pups over on the high ridge.
The cute chipmunk and red squirrel and pine martin all chittered excitingly from the red pines that creak and sway — reciting the same.
Spring peeper frogs and throaty bull frogs,
Woodland jumping mouse, deer mouse and Northern grasshopper mouse voices join in solidarity with the bubbled agreement
from pike, walleye, crappie, trout, bass, perch, lake trout and lawyers (bourbot variety)…
This is our home.
Chickadees and white throated sparrows chime in,
Red backed voles and red bellied snakes don’t say much nor do the shadows of raptors flying high above but it is their home too.
The moose bellows, the deer stamps, the fox and the fur bearers silently share. We live here too, It’s our home that you’re visiting.
The camp robber, Whiskey Jackjoins you in your camp, looking for something.
What is it that you brought?
Before you leave your home
Pack some respect. Bring some dignity,
Compassion for those that paddle after.
For those that call it home.
Leave it better than you found it.
There’s no maid service in the wilderness.
©Timothy James Stouffer 06252020 All Rights Reserved Ely, MN #elystreetpoet