Lynn Hess

An Enduring Commitment
  (a triolet sequence)

The mallards return each spring to where they were born. 
Every May, he watches for them at the lake
to alight in pairs, then waddle onto the lawn.
The mallards return each spring to where they were born.
They sit & wait.  One whistle — they scuttle for corn
he trustingly plants on his palm for them to take.
The mallards return each spring to where they were born. 
Every May, he watches for them at the lake.

The mallards return each spring to where they were born.
Every May, they watch for him at the lake
to drag his folding lounge chair onto the lawn.
The mallards return each spring to where they were born
to trustingly fly to his feet, quickly quacking for corn —
an annual greeting in which they both partake.
The mallards return each spring to where they were born.
Every May, they watch for him at the lake.

Lynn Hess is a retired middle-school teacher who, for thirty years, also conducted poetry-writing workshops for students in grades K through 8. Her writing has appeared in print or online in Rattle (print version), Chicken Soup for the Soul, The  Berkshire Sampler, The Monterey Poetry Review, Discretionary Love, The MockingOwl Roost, The New Verse News, The Red Eft Review, Aeolian-Harp, The Spoon River Quarterly, Blackberry, and others. Where Tigers Roar in Silence, a book of her poetry for children, was published by Lime Rock Press. Although Lynn enjoys writing in free verse, she especially loves the musicality of poetry written with rhyme and meter.