Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Not Your Rabbit


The urban forest in winter is a sublime

landscape of serenity, a peaceful escape

where woodland trails invite and entrance

the casual and the committed to nature's wild

side. Its mind-calming atmosphere a treasure

and a reprieve from all that bedevils any

community engrossed in living day by day

in a world of unrelenting aggravation. Yet

it also offers up reminders of the travails of

existence; of nature red in tooth and claw in

occasional macabre and chilling pastiches of

unmistakable agony. A passage on the forest

floor steeped in snow and ice suddenly become

a morgue; on its surface bright red blood and

nearby tufts of skin and tawny hair and entrails

signs of struggle and defeat. You shrink in

dismay at the spectacle of hunter and hunted.

Breathing a sigh of relieve when dusk hurries

into night and there he is, your daily winter

visitor nibbling the offerings on schedule.


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