A week ago
we followed a road
through orchards
of plum, apple and apricot
a road so close to the border
we clearly saw lookout posts,
glimpsed into homes
Someone could shoot at us you said,
as you maneuvered the car around,
turning back and just then
a black snake slithered whip-like
across the road, so close,
almost under the wheels,
we gasped
black snakes are harmless you said
The next day rockets were fired
into a town down the road from ours
and we thought of the snake
and wondered at omens
