Coyote

On the 7th night of our trip I awoke to my sister at the door of the guest room with an urgency in her voice.  My little niece had caught the flu sometime during the night and my sister needed some reinforcements.  After waking my mom to find the extra towels and trying to comfort my niece, I sleepily headed back to bed.  After awhile, when her crying had stopped, I could hear another cry in the dark distance.  This time, not of a sick baby, but of the somewhat sad and echoing cry of the coyotes.  

Full Winter Moon Coyote

Thomas Hubbard

Looks like our friend stopped

Outside your bedroom window last night and

Just stood still in the new snow

For a while, enit?

The way one set of his tracks

Outsizes the others…

You know his feet were

Same size in all the tracks,

So he must have stayed

Long enough on that spot

So more snow melted

Under his paws

Maybe he was trying to

Make up a tale to

Whisper in your ear, or

Maybe he listened to your dreams

To ease his lonesome feeling

Maybe he climbed inside a dream and

Hid behind a lush memory, intending to

Play some kind of a trick, but then

Thought better of it.

Or…maybe he was the one

Dreaming, and you…

Do you suppose he only stopped

To admire the snow?