Struggle

 

Was it a mid-night storm we did not hear    because at first we thought    moss

fell off the old oak tree in the yard   a yearling doe sniffed it     walked away.

Deer eat moss like candy.  I slipped my feet into my shoes   to go    to see

Feathers.   Don't let it be Lady Jade!   Is she dead?    he called to me. 

I stepped onto the battlefield     the morning sunlight       iridescent

on the tail feathers    scattered among turkey down    fluff meant for nesting.

A cougar killed a goat    last week   at the neighbor's place    and I heard

about an ambling bear    a coyote, too, has wandered back and forth .

A turkey is nature     feathered with rainbows   simply that

until you name it.            Lady Jade    intrepid    brave.

Is her body there?   he called again.   I didn't see it anywhere    not even any blood. 

One final feather lay tangled in the grass close to a ponderosa tree.    Maybe she

struggled herself free.

Christin 

(-for more on Lady Jade, see the post titled "Destiny")