When First We Moved to the Edge of the Wood

 When First We Moved to the Edge of the Wood

We gazed upon the wall of trees

trying to penetrate their mysteries.

But the grove’s understory was so dense,

the foliage was like a thick, leafed fence.

One opening, though, later we found

where a tree once there had fallen down.

Yet faint light entered only so far

before quickly closing in the darkness there.

Beyond this open door of leaves, we imagined many secrets lie.

One mystery gave a glint of light only when the sun was high.

Then a mirror reflected a glimmer through the leaves

the mirror, a pond, its light weaves through the trees.

Detecting a pond explained other discoveries

from the wooded land of hidden mysteries.

For water birds waddled out from the woods

looking to mate and start-up their broods.

Picking our way one day through the brush

serenaded by the melodic voice of the wood thrush,

we flushed-out a group of bird seed eaters,

a herd of deer that eat seed from our feeders.

Again another woods dweller was found,

this time perched high above the ground.

As I chanced to look up at a nearby tree

I saw a barred owl gazing down at me.

My eyes locked-on to the owl’s and I froze, 

I stayed this way for how long heaven knows.

At one point he turned his head half-way around,

to dismiss this mere human without making a sound.

Then there was the fox on a dubious gambit

to catch a wild turkey who saw him, then flit. 

The fox had nothing to show for his troubles.

The turkey, up a tree, mocked him with gobbles.

A night time prowler, a raccoon we named Bat Man,

turned a motion light on himself when he tried to tip the trash can.

And of course there was the time we were so lucky

to see a ten-point deer we named Bucky.

It is an interesting neighborhood in which our house long has stood.

when first we moved to the edge of the wood.