
How she got in
I do not know.
She breached the fence
Somehow. Perhaps burrowing under
Like the weeds that invade from the neighboring
Yard. Or maybe she leapt, like a stallion
Over the wooden planks.
*
I watch her through the window.
Gorgeous, predatory,
Ready to lurch and bury herself
Into the leaf pile to play or
To Snatch up the unaware chipmunk and
Sink her teeth into its soft, fur-coated flesh.
*
I envy the fox,
Her bold assertion of her self
Claiming a territory that is not hers to claim;
In the moment, uncaring
Of anything other than her desires
And what sates her appetites.
*
I watch her.
She stands at the edge of the leap, heart
Racing with the anticipatory heat of excitement.
Still. Alive
*
Yet, she knows death.
She screeches in the night
Like an owl or a woman stalked
And caught, her gut about to be cut by the blade
Of a predator whose evils the fox cannot conceive.
The fox screams for her young.
Stay away. Stay away.
*
I watch through the window.
I too am standing at the edge of a leap.
And I remind myself that I too
may live.