The doe doesn't show herself to me mid day when I'm out and about with my camera, but this young cow elk did yesterday, grazing down in front of the Little Cabin.
Silent as a whisper you cross the meadow
Like a soft lazy breeze through full leafed trees
In the last light of the day
Shadows now but a memory
Your delicate steps cautiously advancing
Returning to each place you were last year
Here
The salt lick by the horses that chase until they are bored
And bother you but for a moment
Do you look towards my garden
Recalling the last of the lettuce you finished off in October
Before leaving for lower ground?
In the early light of a cloudy morning
You emerge like a promise
Unspoken words
The world is yours now
Yet so frightfully you remain in your domain
Do you feel no comfort for more than a moment?
Into the woods I follow you
I mean not to disturb
But know not how to pass without
Never as quiet as I try to be
On horseback you allow me more near
Is it the smell of the fellow four legged that comforts you
Or your natural curiosity
As strong as my own?
And in the soft pink light of the early morning
Quiet and still without a hint of wind or sound or list of things to do today
With the pair of geese rising up from their nest in the marshy grass
To keep you not too near
You find your way by
Step by cautious step
On your mountain
Despite my fences my stock my house my noise my neighbors my problems
It is yours.
Yesterday mid day on the mountain... magical.