Coming Homethe scarlet flame

of Indian paintbrush
licks at sego lily’s

ivory heart
consuming the dew

dropped by the mountain morning
the raucous scold

off Stellar’s jay
echoes against the jagged

Sawtooth jaws
biting deeply

the azure sky
the lifting limbs

of Douglas fir
embrace the billowing

white clouds
caressing the pregnant

belly of lightning’s birth
the reflecting flow

of the river named for salmon
records these passing scenes

and is shattered by
the splashing tail

of one Redfish coming home
Byron Johnson
Retired Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court 