A Walk in the Woods - Jan 11 2023

 

A Walk in the Woods

Jan 11 2023

I feel eyes on me

walking through the woods.

I am not paranoid or hallucinating,

not normally prone

to flights of imagination.

No, it's just that I know they're there,

the wild creatures

whose domain I have entered,

a place I don't fully belong.

So they watch,

masters of concealment

well-practiced at stealth.

And cautiously, of course;

because I am a dangerous animal,

and they have learned

from sad experience.

Eyes

peering through then leaves.

Over-sized paws

padding quietly

on broken ground.

Mothers

hustling off with their young

and glancing anxiously back.

I navigate the trail

seeing nothing of this,

but feeling the scrutiny

like a physical weight.

My heart begins to race

palms sweat

gait picks up,

until I'm crashing through the underbrush

on heavy clumsy feet.

Disrupting the peace.

Violating the place.

Not wanted here.

A human animal.

The apex predator.

Given dominion over a world

he no longer belongs

and doesn't deserve.