Fountain of Youth

They are drawn to the water
in the close-knit heat
somehow they know
and knowing they find the spring

Dancing dew-eyed
bouncing through the stream
the spinning sprinkler head chasing them merrily
beneath the long tree shadows
the misty haze of the temperature rising

They are drawn to the water
for sport
picking at the wet grass
bare spots in places
dead or pulled apart before

They’d whirl and pick and prank
until the water stopped spinning
but the feral cat is drawn to the water
and quickly snatches a bird as it dances in the sun.