Little Green Snake

After you died,
I found you
bloody in the grass.

I mourned,
little green snake.

I held your cold body in my hands,
my fingers touched,
the bumps of your scales,
felt the softness of your belly.

How I wish,
you would look at me
with your round black eyes.

Dear Reader:
This poem was inspired by Emily Dickinson's poem, "A Narrow Fellow in the Grass." In her poem Emily write about a young boy coming upon a snake in the grass, that at first fascinates him and then frightens him. I studied this poem in on of my literature classes. This poem brought back memories from when I was nine years old. My family and I were living in a rented house in Orangeville, California, a suburb of Sacramento. I don't remember when I learned that green garter snakes are harmless snakes but I regarded them with a fascination that I would have given to butterflies or frogs. This poem is based on my literal memory of finding and feeling sad for a little dead garter snake.