A Filthy Night

The blustery winds have calmed
and the rain no longer gushes
out of the dark night sky. You
have chosen for some misbegotten
reason to take a familiar path down
to a network of forest trails and
find under these conditions the
trees on either side loom tall
dark and threatening not at all
the familiar shapes you've long
been accustomed to, and wonder
as your boots slip and slide over
the slick foliage unstable on the
clay floor of the forest whatever
might have possessed you to
venture out on such a filthy night
and ask yourself are you that
bored, really? You pass the side
trail where on a previous rainy night
you had slipped and slid helplessly
your injured shoulder just now
beginning to heal and you think
how senseless this is, turn and
head back up that long hill. 
Something white is approaching
and your mind clicks over in
alarm, a white-slickered jacket
worn by someone you definitely
don't know, accompanied by a
large dog. You smile a self-defence
mechanism and bid him take care 
on the trails, they're treacherous.