green beetle

your back a
blazing emerald
emblem of the day
in spring's livery
lively, fairly flying

as if we were
nobility
you show us in
then weave away unseen
green in green

the skitter of your legs
quickened with the sun
the hum of the air
preparing for the summer
the lakewater forgetting all its icy chains
feathering away from the sand
in lines like veins of leaves
just beginning to reach from cottonwood trees
all this
spring day
tugging at my limbs

if i were alone here and
not on lunch break
ending in ten minutes
i can just imagine
all the things i might do

i do believe
i might roll down this hill
shedding years
turning green.