Murmurings of wildlife abound in this place of suburbia, but no one confines me to Lazy Boy or love seat. Curious, I mimic safari through the back lots to evening enchantment, to once again amble forth in enthusiasm, eye to eye with a white-coated doe, to a kind of communion offered by nature at her best. The tips of evergreen branches spread to her delicate movements. I call her Naomi. I don’t know why I call her that, other than some inner reach to assign something pleasant and meaningful to this lovely creature, and yes, something as so beautiful. Precious on all fours, she is bubbling forth of mid May rain, a kind of fairy princess glimmering beneath a silver sickle moon. At the edge of a gazebo I am under her watchful regard; her countenance an image of innocence. Naomi’s eyes absorb the abundant starlight. Her breath, like mine, smokes the frigid air. My vantage point is close enough--Naomi makes this clear. An occasional choppy wind disturbs the moment, yet all is fair beneath Orion’s gaze, for creatures great and small, for courage and kinship. Each night is like a homecoming, a dazzle and a force, for tales are printed on pristine pages with lace-work of paw prints in the snow, and rabbit tracks linking tree to tree. I am all too happy to escape any onslaught of human foibles, the caloric bluster of oratory, the bleed of huff. I cannot accept lessons from florid-faced folks eager to spew insolence or vitriol knowing Naomi is near, for she provides me the sweetest company. 30 Lines Writer’s Cramp 1-15-16 |