Guide to the Perplexed

If there's a feather to be found lying
within sight on a trail in the forest
she will sight it, stoop and claim it
as her very own. It may once have
adorned a bluejay, a goldfinch, a
song sparrow or a robin, but once in
hand the precious object is hers alone.
She could be mistaken for a waif
yet is never seen other than beside
her mother. As a young adult it is 
difficult to discern her gender
hidden within clothing that gives
no hint, much less a voice seldom
used for she is shy-to-mute whereas
her mother is never silent always
prepared to impart to the curious
other her store of woodland  lore.
Ah, but I know her secret, the puffy
old wrinkled woman standing beside
the sleek hermaphrodite, for she
fetched the mystical creature from
the forest, to beguile and to speak
the language of that place which no
one else perceives, a child of the
wilderness bewildered by her new
role, guide to a nursery-tale-misplaced
childhood-frightening old witch.