JVD

Who feels a captive silence
In this house can’t know
The creatures past our fence,
Broken, antique, that go
Their way by day, and nightly
Hide in trees or burrows,
Though some will stir that see
Prey among the shadows.

Deer, I mean, and bears
Happily shy, turkeys
Strutting past fears
On family outings, bees
Pollen-smudged and hawks
High up we see surveying
The field when we take walks,
A heron near the spring.

We are surrounded, a word
That once had dangerous
Echoes, but now absurd
To think such beings want us.
Asleep while coyotes bark
We’re safe upon the tide,
Circled by souls that mark
What flees if brought inside.