In the silence the marbled moon
Rests blue on the saw tooth silhouette of black pines
Across rocky terrain pocked with scattered drifts and clumps of snow.
Muffled thumping from cloven hooves striking frozen ground interrupts.
I stand, listening in the burning chill of a rising wind,
Straining to discern something recognizable among darkly shadowed trees.
A puff of hot breathe mists in the frigid air at park’s edge.
Indistinct shapes scramble through gray and black lodgepoles,
Becoming a dozen elk, closely bunched, steaming heat.
They abruptly halt. One coughs. Then, another.
The lead cow, ears forward, listens.
I can barely see her head turn toward me
When shrill yelps and clipped howls erupt ,
Shattering the calm in a scattered, eerie chorus.
The old cow lunges down slope, leading her throng deeper into the night.
- Terry Roice
Terry Roice is the Language Arts teacher at Summit High School, where he helps students host various poetry slams and events throughout the year.
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