Footprints, Bobcat, Fresh Snow

bobcatI visit these woods,
stranger to a foreign land
of conifers (juniper
and pine)

the currants, manzanita,
snowbrush and boulders
holding to the earth

and being held
one and the same
this network
of connections

of tracks I follow
in snow to let go,
to never step too far with,

I only want to be close to
breath in the cold,
the stillness, aloneness

of how the animal chooses
its range of solitude

I want to be a part of

keeping the distance,

holding wildness close.