Two boys, not quite men, pretended to let it go only to catch it again and
again. And the turtle, equally determined, each time gave its heart to escape
them. We were near the base of the old dam where the river became a translucent,
hissing wall, fixed in falling, where, by the size of it, the turtle had
long trusted its defense, the streaming
algae, green, black, red - the garden of its spine- not to fail it. They
held it upside down, the yellow plastron exposed; they hoisted it over their
heads like a trophy. I left it to you to do the bargaining, exchange the
money for us to save it, let it go;
fast, it disappeared into deeper许water, returning to another present,
where the boulders cut the current to cast safer shadows of motionlessness.
We were already forgotten, then, like most gods after floods recede, after
fevers break.
We did not talk about what we had bought - an hour, an afternoon, a later
death, worth whatever we had to give for it.
