Camille A. Balla: "Breaking Through"

Driving to the next hurried errand
with a list swimming in my head,
I brake for the web-footed family—
not crossing the road,
but walking tall in a single straight line
headed in the opposite direction—
five dark gray long-necked profiles
observing the slow lane,
cars behind them crawling.

I hear myself exclaim delight
at this sweet, slow-moving sight.

A sunny sermon
quietly breaks through—
not citing lilies of the field
or birds of the air
but a family of geese—
right here on the blacktop.



"Breaking Through" by Camille A. Balla, from Simple Awakenings. © Linebyline Press, 2010.

Photography credit: Detail from "I Love That Traffic Stopped for This Family of Geese," by V'ron, 2008 (originally black and white).