Snap

I heard the snap of a twig 

and saw two squirrels chase each other

back and forth,

around and around the giant oak which stretched

its limbs across my head as if it could protect

me from the snap of a limb

and my child tumbling from the place he'd been

hiding while I sat and pondered how

a snap in judgment

could alter the state of our lives -

one pause to stare might save a life,

one pause to say where might cost many.

The decisions we make in a snap

seem as logical to me as the squirrels

who chirp and bark as their nails

click around the base, and they race
from one branch to the next,

across paths well traveled,

until they reach the one missing,

lying beside my child

investigating the shape of his bones,

not sure if any of them have

snapped.