A bright dawn shone on

A night’s fresh snow

And there a tale was told

Of visitors

Of a hunting cat’s meandering path

Of raccoons digging for birdseed

And possum too

And a canid as well

But dog, fox, or coyote?

Rabbits too

(but surely, not when dog or cat was there)

All came while humans slept

Day brings more to write on the white page

Squirrels bound through snow

And then the birds

Crows, jays, doves, sparrows, and more

Adding their track script to the page

Under hawk’s watchful eyes

The raptor will see no chipmunks

They stay warm in their holes

With food hoarded in warmer times

And the bears have left no mark

They sleep, dreaming

Of warmer days

And unguarded goodies

Discarded from human kitchens

Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

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Bob Wertzler is retired from almost twenty years in the mental health field in California and Arizona. There are times the title, “Recovering Therapist”, seems to fit. In 2006 he retired to move to Western North Carolina to help and become primary care giver for his father who had developed Dementia. Before all that, there was work at various times as a soldier (US Army 1967-70), community organizer, cab driver, welfare case worker, wooden toy maker, carpenter, warehouse worker, and other things. He relates to a line in a Grateful Dead song, “What a long, strange trip its been.”