Spiraling up and up with scratching speed,
the squirrels pursued each other around
the rough barked pine faster than my eyes could shift.

I lost them in white sky glare and tangled
needle mass; raucously harsh, screeching calls,
marked them before their leap to a neighbor oak.

The smaller fell, spread-eagle in air;
missed! I thought, but spasms of tail/tick-tock
and tendon/claw snagged a limb-tip easing
his plummeting fall to stronger growth.

Then, daring pursuit, the parent raced on,
intent on schooling squirrel ways without respite;
tree to tree with chattering leaps of faith.

From limb to power line the parent jumped
beckoning the smaller to follow fast; the pupil,
leaping, slipped, then swung upright and froze:
the taut wire of risk lay suddenly clear
in the vastness of white opened air.

Father/mother? chastised hesitance with
warnings of dark omnipresent beast,
and ran the unforgiving wire quickly away.

The rodent/child, doubt crushed, wavered and fell,
clawing apathetic air to the street
where he lay and twice twitched, perhaps with thoughts
of soft/leaf nest and of drinking water.