In these woods at Timber
lately without birds
and visible mammals,
it’s only the river I hear
and the breathing of plants.
A shadow slips past. Something
peripheral to my gaze
fawns like rabbits
three bounce away.
And there’s the doe still
as I creep up
only to discover a stump
very still
as it has been over the years.
I don’t know why it seems strange
that the fawns pass dry bones
leg bones of a buck
with no hesitation at all.
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