Hiking Alone In The Woods

While I was hiking
Alone
In the woods
On a snowy
Winter’s night
I just happened
To cross paths
With  a small
Brown eyed fawn
Paralyzed with
Fright

She had
Stopped dead
In her tracks
To stare at me
With baited breath
As if to determine
If I were a
Friend or foe or
Perhaps some
Harbinger of death

We stayed like that
Some minutes longer
Eyeing each other
From afar  
“I’ll just stay over here”
She seemed to be saying
“You just stay
Where you are!”

And then
In the bat of an eye
She was gone

So much for my
One brief encounter
With a fawn

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2011