in the quiet of a night

Image: skychasers
in the quiet of a night
in the woods inside a cottage
I wonder if the animals outside
can hear me and why I’m not
on the deck listening for them and
searching for the bug light reflection
in their wild stares, tracking the birds
in their swift reckoning silence, and
listening for a sniffling dillo’s low
ramble and wondering how quickly
I might perish if I had to live from
the land and how very soon I would
take to the garbage cans or grub
through loose dirt for a gram of flesh
or a spare acorn to cook if a fire were
a thing I could concoct and if I should
and if they’d accept me as an equal
or if I’d need to first accept their terms
and hope to prove myself at some point

untangling my feet is a beginning