Grand Coyote
I am familiar with the trail, beckoning me today
It leads a way to the river that is my usual way
Sound of waters fade, the trail divides the snow
Calling from my walk, where ever the path should go
An evening pass of winter white, clinging to the trees
The fall of winter snows, lay always as they please
Silence is more visible, in places you do not know
The stillness spills in eeriness which moves along the snow
A sudden confrontation, brings an unplanned interlude
Two who in their meeting, wonder which of us intrude
He was a grand coyote, in his handsome winters coat
Colored in shades of Autumn, with white about his throat
He stood his ground with interest, discerning my intent
Un-steadied by my nearness and unfamiliar with my scent
Both knew the wild ground, was his much more than mine
A wild obscured by trespass, of one just passing time
We froze in stoic apprehension, statued in our stance
Each in study of the other, withholding quarter to advance
He held my admiration, scratching a life from such a place
A wild born unrelenting, what grows by measured grace
I chanced the move he wanted, and knelt upon the snow
He moved ahead approving, giving me leave to go
I watched his guarded going, as he vanished in the wild
Then sat with love and trembling, frozen in my smile.
