we gazed down at it with shared bewilderment,

you, pushing 30, me, drowning in the eye

of my 20s, trading places and postures,

pretending the dog eat dog world around us

was metaphor, not darwinian indifference,

pretending we were dogs licking its wings,

willing it to live, not weighing the morality

of leaving it out there to die in the name

of happy hour, wondering if we did enough

by calling animal control, would they expect

us to wait there, like dutiful blind dates,

this was before you could ping coordinates

in time, red thumbtacks masquerading as

humans, you were there when they arrived,

or you were gone, and this was the first time

you saw into me, my feet deciding for

my brain to tentpole my body to the spot,

fold my invisible feathers around it,

until the white nose of the work truck

took shape in the horizon, black tar wheels

pushing it closer to where we stood in

solidarity, our shadows casting altruistic

lines around its downy body orbed in

sand, my feet unmooring themselves

at the click of the opening door,

relief rushing through me at the sight

of the professional savior, then our eyes

met, i looked into you, and despite the passage

of time after, which we could tag friendship,

let’s be honest, when we crossed the dunes

to the road, our human footfalls splashing dry

sand in the air, our soles stamping the shoulder

of highway 1, we walked away from much more

than the snowy plover on the beach