![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_5724-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Virgin snow collapses under a heavy foot
\nLike sand washed away from a steep embankment
\nBy waves impatient of passing time.
\nFootprints dug deep below the surface
\nOnly to be covered by the next snowfall;
\nMan lacks permanence in a place such as this.<\/p>\n
Translucent diamonds fall from the soft blue sky
\nSharp and glinting in sunlight
\nThat offers no warmth or respite from biting winds.
\nTree limbs grow heavy with new white robes
\nBowing before the might of Winter
\nWith sideways eyes on far away Spring.<\/p>\n
He pulls his feet from the earth
\nOnly to plunge them instantly back into the deep;
\nAn endless repetition of slow but sure
\nForward progress that breaks the line
\nBetween man\u2019s land and Nature\u2019s untouched garden.
\nThe trail he treads marks a boundary line
\nMany have approached, but few have overcome.<\/p>\n
A chill runs down his spine leaving his hair
\nStanding at attention without reason;
\nCaught between Winter\u2019s grip and something
\nMore primal that calls to the heart
\nDragging the modern into the primitive mind of fear.
\nHow small we become when we realize
\nThe world is not ours to inhabit \u2013at least not ours alone.<\/p>\n
The twig snaps like a leg caught in a hunter\u2019s trap,
\nHe halts and listens with attentive ears.
\nThe sound of Winter\u2019s silence echoes loudly
\nEven a breath would disturb the crisp air
\nCracking it like thin ice with the slightest exhale \u2013
\nDead silence reigns here, disrupted
\nOnly by the sound of softly falling snow.<\/p>\n
He turns again to continue down the path he chose
\nOnly to again feel the haunting of the unknown
\nCreeping up behind him, wearing the silence like a cloak
\nShrouded in mystifying white and revealed only by instinct
\nFelt acutely by the hunted when they have been marked as prey.
\nHe knows he is followed by the ghost of something
\nBut cannot name the adversary walking in his shadow.<\/p>\n
A flash of red jumps out of the colorless scenery
\nExisting only on the periphery of sight
\nAs the blurry edged undefined and unrelenting embodiment
\nOf all that leaves man powerless and afraid.
\nA phantom dancing just beyond what the eye can see
\nBut the mind remembers as a timeless enemy.<\/p>\n
As the man turns once more to seek out the sound stalking him
\nHe is faced with the nothingness of a barren landscape
\nAnd his own footprints marring the pristine face of the wilderness;
\nExcept now the first evidence of pursuit is present:
\nLaid atop his tracks stood the careful footprints of another,
\nBut no sign of the creature that left them behind.<\/p>\n
Whirling around to face forward once more
\nHoping to escape the encroaching presence
\nOnly to be confronted with the intense yellow eyes of his pursuer.
\nStanding in the path before him, a red tailed fox \u2013
\nRoyal coat, piercing eyes, black tipped ears keenly listening
\nBlocked the man\u2019s path with the towering presence
\nOf a primal Queen who\u2019s dominion has been challenged.<\/p>\n
Frozen in place by the sudden appearance of this image of majesty,
\nMan stands facing the wild
\nNot knowing whether to continue his journey or turn away.
\nThe fox tilts its head from side to side with curiosity,
\nListening to the sound of one who once belong here
\nBut was lost to another world long ago.
\nNot knowing whether he be friend or foe
\nShe takes a cautious step forward.<\/p>\n
She walks atop the snow, gliding gracefully forward
\nHer movements sound like the swaying of the trees.
\nThe man slowly reaches out his ungloved hand toward the red spirit
\nShe hesitates, paw hanging midair, head tilting to listen
\nHearing his heart as it beats thunderously in his chest.
\nSo close, the man stretches farther locked in her lightning eyes
\nWhen just as suddenly as she appeared, into the periphery she vanishes.<\/p>\n
Left with hand outstretched, slowly filling with snowflakes
\nGently kissing his open palm regretfully
\nThe man is left haunted by the red ghost that almost felt real
\nIf only he could have touched it and held it close
\nFor a moment longer than Eternity.
\nInstead, the silence of winter surrounds him once more
\nAnd the Elysium he glimpsed returns to the realm of myth.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_5736.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Virgin snow collapses under a heavy foot Like sand washed away from a steep embankment By waves impatient of passing time. Footprints dug deep below the surface Only to be covered by the next snowfall; Man lacks permanence in a place such as this. Translucent diamonds fall from the soft blue sky Sharp and glinting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,3],"tags":[2494,65,1049,2493,134,2319,384,1191,1199,652,856,63,120],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6263,"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6259\/revisions\/6263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.multer.com\/people\/monica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}