Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia

 

The moose is still there, fifty-plus years later,

raising its antlered head before a backdrop

of painted water and taiga pines. Behind glass

it watches the curious crowds of people.

When I first saw it I was five, six--

probably younger-- I remember--

how it towered over me, the moose.

Since then I’ve stood in an elephant’s shadow

swum in the wake of giant mantas

slept at the foot of a live volcano. But awe

is not innate. You have to learn it. I learned it first

at the feet of the moose.

 

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