<html class="apple-mail-supports-explicit-dark-mode"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: 22px;">The Voice of the Turtle</span><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 22px;"><br>And the voice of the turtle<br> shall be heard in the land<br><br>Oh, I know it means the turtle dove<br> I know that now, but I didn’t then<br> when I was eight years old<br><br>My imagination ran wild<br><br>I had only seen one turtle close up<br> one of those dime-store turtles<br> no bigger than a quarter<br> that you bought for twenty cents in June<br> that lived almost a month<br> in a pan on the back porch<br> with three pebbles and a flat rock<br> for company and comfort<br><br>If you were lucky<br> it would live ‘til fall<br> then your heart would break<br> when your Dad carried it away<br> to an uncertain end<br><br>My turtle never sang<br> and it was not that I didn’t listen<br> Maybe he only sang at sunrise<br> I tried that only once and not a peep<br><br>A dead fly didn’t send his<br> turtle heart to singing either<br> no sound escaped his hawky jaw<br> as he chomped an iridescent wing<br><br>Fresh water, a lettuce leaf<br> even a bug I didn’t know<br> left him uninspired and mute<br><br>I listened so hard for that turtle’s voice<br> maybe my ears were too small or too big<br> maybe he was too young to sing or<br> just maybe he had nothing to sing about<br> in his chipped enamel pan<br><br>I heard others singing though<br> grey wrens in the cherry tree<br> Dad as he pruned the tomatoes<br> even the dog groaning content<br> in the shade under the porch<br><br>And the voice of the turtle<br> shall be heard in the land<br><br>Maybe we were both too young<br> he to sing and me to hear<br> what still must be a glorious sound<br> to the ear<br><br>Another time, another place<br><br>Perhaps some other turtle<br> in some other land<br> is singing a great low note to God<br><br>Some other turtle I guess<br> in some other land<br><br> - Doug von Koss</div></div></body></html>