Rabbit Tracks in the Snow

A fresh blanket, pure and white,
draped overnight by the hush of winter.
Morning awakens with sunshine,
a soft brilliance on a frost-tipped world,
as light snow drifts lazily downward,
dressing the earth in soft caresses.

Across the drive, into the front yard,
and there—etched in the stillness—
tracks of a nocturnal rabbit,
delicate impressions that weave a tale
of moonlit wanderings unseen.

Around, around, and around
the towering red maple,
its limbs outstretched like a watchful guardian.
Why these circles?
Why this devotion to the tree?

Was it the shelter of its shadow,
a refuge from imagined danger?
Or some instinctual dance,
a secret rhythm,
known only to the snowbound and the stars?

I kneel to touch the fragile evidence,
a fleeting story the sun will soon erase,
and wonder what it means
to circle something so steadfast,
to trace patterns in the fleeting canvas
of a winter morning.

#poem #poetry #nature #rabbit #snow #winter