What can happen

Wrung back from rubble, From the asphalt shadow Of tall buildings Thundering down, This fragile fragment Of wetland past Gives back A nursery of dreams, Trust in the wisdom Of what can happen When, left to themselves, Land and water meet And mix, expand, contract; How each different rooted thing Chooses, along the muddy gradient, The conditions of its growth; How this wild diversity Of flower, stem, leaf, Reed, cattail gives shelter To insects, birds, muskrats, Turtles, ducks, small fish; How each feeds each And tempers the wind In the world sprung up: What can happen At a permeable boundary.