I stand outside at work….

A mourning dove calls from a short distance away before flitting to a position closer, landing on the ground and searching for what I do not know.

I am the only one who looks.

A bird of equal size and superior agility flies in and chases the dove away, manhandles soil and flora and everything else in its quest for something unknown to me.  I don’t recognize the beast and stare wonderingly.

I am the only one who looks.

A northern cardinal’s telltale call beckons from nearby, perhaps in a tree or atop the building.  I hear it but do not see it.

I am the only one who looks.

A fox squirrel belovedly called Bob prances across the dirt and grass, coming within arm’s reach of those who walk by, and I watch with utter fascination.

I am the only one who looks.

A large katydid hangs just below the security keypad, a brilliantly green creature larger than any of my fingers.  It sits quietly, unobtrusively.

I am the only one who looks.

A bedazzling butterfly leisurely floats around, colors so brilliant that words cannot do justice, a fantastic example of nature’s artwork in play.

I am the only one who looks.

I stand on my patio…

A cooper’s hawk sweeps in over the earth as a myriad of birds scatter in its wake.  Several people scurry about doing this and that.

I am the only one who looks.

I drive on the road…

An armadillo skitters across the drive, dashing between careless drivers careening in the dark toward whatever senseless destination keeps them blind to the world around them.  Only I pause, brake, stop to let the marvelous creature pass before me.

I am the only one who looks.

I stand at the lake…

A red-eared slider perches in absolute stillness upon a log, its stripes and colors so magnificent in sunshine as to be blinding.

I am the only one who looks.

I stand in my garage…

A baby European starling hops about the roadway, seeking shelter beneath parked cars and against embankments, and all the while people come and go in automobiles and on foot.  A domestic cat follows the nestling with intent.

I am the only one who looks.

I go through life…

A lizard here, an insect there, an arthropod between them; a bird overhead, a marsupial underfoot, a flower separating them; a spectacular cloud floating through the sky, a winged predator casting its shadow upon me, a seedling quietly growing nearby; and a tree dressing the bones of the world for summer, a nest hidden amongst its limbs with new life calling out, leaves and lungs breathing in that way which only the living can know.

I am the only one who looks.