Snowshoeing

On our modified
Green Mountain
Bear Paws
         we trek
this frozen streambed
this Ottawa Valley wood.

   Although we forbear
as sensitive barbarians
to obtrude on
neighbours' groundspace
     here
we tread seedlings
crack helpless frozen
branches
     heedlessly

marvelling in mirage
of beauty
unseen by cerebral lens
of laden boll and bough.
For long past years

this ambiance
has hosted hostility
defenceless eyes
     hidden
hatred of intrusion
through thickets
of familiarity.

Evidence of owl-
snatched hare
reveals itself
on pristine blanket
grouse tracks   droppings
mice-tentative steps

shield from us
their tenants.
We stride on      happy
oblivious harbingers
of unnamed animal dread.