Fable for Blackboard

Here is the grackle, people.
Here is the fox, folks.
The grackle sits in the bracken. The fox   
   hopes.

Here are the fronds, friends,
that cover the fox.
The fronds get in a frenzy. The grackle   
   looks.

Here are the ticks, tykes,   
that live in the leaves, loves.   
The fox is confounded,
and God is above.

Copyright Credit: George Starbuck, “Fable for Blackboard” from Bone Thoughts. Copyright © 1960 by George Starbuck. Reprinted with the permission of Yale University Press.
Source: The Works: Poems Selected from Five Decades (The University of Alabama Press, 2003)