© LJR 2024
ONE WINTER NIGHT
From a rocky ridge a pack of shadows descends
Their goal the moonlit meadow below
There a fox is sniffing out mouse trails
But as the wind shifts, rustling icy branches
She senses danger and slips back into the trees
A family of otters playing on the creek banks
Catch the pack’s scent and dive for their dens
Their advantage gone, the alpha signals a halt
But his followers are impatient, they whine and fret
Noises that carry to the willow thickets
Where does and their young keep a wary watch
Hoping the pack will not cross icy water
Tattered gray clouds skuttle across the skies
Playing hide and seek with the rising moon
The wind picks up, its bite sharp with a cold
Even the thickest fur does little to thwart
The pack grows restless, sensing what’s coming
Snow . . .
It falls in thick, wet curtains
Flurries that cloak the world in white
Defeated, the pack will hunt no more tonight
Hunger overshadowed by mere survival
Calm returned, the deer huddle closer together
The storm has provided a timely reprieve
Yet what drives the hunters has not changed
They and all others sustained by this meadow
Must stay vigilant, must chose fight or flight
If they are to survive
More than one winter night
*****
LeeAsnn, this is beautiful.
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