It is so, but it might not be so, or have been so, might not have been at all. G&B 250

low tide huddle of ducks__in the shade of the great oak

pale sky the welt of a contrail__too big to go broke

Big Money cries mercy__gulls stalk the mudflats

wavering in steamy heat__T’ao Chi’en says that’s

cool the inner pattern holds__the occasional breeze stirs

the oak leaves above me__in our weakness it occurs