A Small Life

                     

pale dry leaves cushion a spot

under the butterfly bush

in my back yard

a leafy cave

hides a dark place…

from my kitchen window

I see a slight gray shadow

tall ears above a pink nose

I’m startled as two eyes

stare at me from under the bush

not blinking

a rabbit…  frozen as a statue

safe in its stillness

in perfect camouflage hawks won’t

see   as they fly overhead

looking for dinner

I say hello and in an instant

it hops away

into the grass and weeds beyond

as if it heard me speak

evening flows in, moves the day

out of the way

I sense something watching

prepare supper and glance out the window

there it is again

stares through the window

curious I suppose

I smile and move

to see if it will turn its head to follow

 this time just a flicker of its eye

the rabbit has claimed this spot

I see its small gray form every morning

and evening

sometimes it spends the day there

happily nibbling on seeds and grass

crabapples spread over the ground

never moving far from its hiding place

in the middle\of the night

I hear an animal scream

it isn’t a dream

nor the first time I hear this sound

filter through my sleep

when you live near farms and fields

out beyond the lights and noises of the city

the sharp sadness of loss

the beat of life and death is always present

in small ways