'Encounter'

Above the early morning fog
I hear a single songbird peep,
though, but for me she'd be unheard,
-the mountain cove is still asleep,


Then, through a rhododendron bush
a tawny forest beauty glides,
and seeming not to move one leaf
to taste the dewy grass she spies


She turns, and bends her slender neck,
then stops. -I made a tiny sound-
her eyes and twitching ears she lifts,
our gazes meet and my heart pounds,


her glance is cooler than a mist,
and, though the stranger stands so near,
She waits, and lets me stare and stare,
(She seems to be devoid of fear)


but like a runway manequin
she waits to let me have my fill,
then turns, walks through a leafy screen,
and as before, the woods are still.
-jorge999