Winter Walk

by Emma Freeman

Dusty gray nest rattling high in the tree

as my footsteps shatter the silence of salty puddles

Nostalgic echoes reverberate across the frozen lake

as a still wave patiently waits to crash

My silhouette slides across the bodies of dappled trees

as I walk over networks of deep cracks

catching a glimpse of a hidden world beneath my feet

I reach an ungloved hand out to greet little pine’s soft fingers

as a flutter of mourning doves scatters suddenly into the air

A wooded hush draws me in

with wind bent bodies reaching down for their roots

Deer stand silently in an open field

before ripples of a new presence lift their legs

and carry them away

A hawk, my momentary parallel traveler

perched and present as I pass by

watching me watching her

two creatures bound by this moment

breathing the same crisp air

both instinctually searching for something we can’t name

The glowing presence of the moon above my head

quietly witnessing all of this wandering

our bodies invisibly tethered

somehow

A deep breath

and some subtle note at the very end

transports me into a memory across time 

for a moment

then right back here

walking through shallow pools of sorbet skies

on my way slowly back home