Untangling My Feet is a Beginning

In the quiet of a night
in the woods
inside a cottage
I wonder
if the animals outside
can hear me
if I'm still
and why I'm not
instead on the deck
listening for them
searching for
their wild yellow stares
reflecting the bug light
or tracking the birds
in their swift reckoning silence
and listening for a sniffling dillo's
low ramble dirt drilling
and wondering further
how quickly I might perish
if I had to live from the land
how very soon I would
take to the garbage cans
and grub through loose dirt
for a gram of flesh
or a spare acorn
if I could cook it
if I just joined them
would they accept me
as an equal
or would I need first
to accept their terms

Larry Piltz
Indian Cove
Austin, Texas