'Encounter'

Encounter


Above the early morning fog
I hear a single songbird peep,
though, but for me she'd be unheard,
-the mountain coves are still asleep,


Then, through a rhododendron bush
a tawny forest beauty glides,
and seeming not to move one leaf
to taste the dewy grass she spies


She turns, and bends her slender neck,
then stops. -I made a tiny sound-
her eyes and twitching ears she lifts,
our gazes meet and my heart pounds,


her glance is cooler than the mist,
and though the stranger stands so near,
She waits, and lets me stare and stare,
(She seems to be devoid of fear)


and like a runway manequin
she waits to let me have my fill,
then turns, walks through a leafy screen,
and as before, the woods are still.

-jjorge