I remembered the Blue Jays in the spring.
I shifted the weight of the pack to the right.
Each afternoon I would find some new thing
From the noise, today the birds found a snake.
Followed it through the bushes of the neighbors yard.
Mocking birds and starlings had joined by then.
A black racer caught in the fence.
Each bird dove until the snake struck out randomly.
Grabbing the fence wire with his broken back teeth.
Twisting from the broken bones and vertebrae,
I remember I watched him die like that.
With my pack set right I continued up the hill