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Holt and Hover

after Michael Longley

I can be seen wherever I am standing —
at night watching a hare stiff as a star
or in daytime the shy quivering of a cherry tree in bloom.

When I walk, I pay homage to the leaf-dappled light,
the vigilant watchman of the goldfinch flock
and the gnarled puissance of the magnolia trees.

If I stood here long enough,
through the days and nights,
my paws would root into the ground.

Rahul D'Silva '08 is a graduating senior at Swarthmore College. He will be going to Ireland this fall on a Fulbright Scholarship. He tends to stare at squirrels a lot. He doesn't know why. He really wants a cottage and a dog (maybe two) of his own.

Disclosure: Rahul is a co-founder and co-editor of this magazine, and had nothing to do with choosing this poem.