October Quail

October Quail

Workers were here
3 days in a row,
measuring, staking
the view lot behind us.
For 32 years we’ve
looked over the back-
back, always knowing
it wasn’t ours.

Like a court battle
you can’t pursue
if you want to eat,
we can’t buy the
view. We’re losing
it but when it’s built,
we’ll finally see the
view that ours is
meant to be.

For now, seven large
October-first quail
busily strut through
the lot, not knowing
a house will be in their way.
And I hang on to a branch
of our rough old plum tree,
knowing that nothing is ours.