At Last, A Fox

At last, a fox:

after months of keeping sharp lookout along the paths, rising even earlier to walk though neighboring woods before even the first hint of sunlight - and I have finally caught sight of my local fox. This has been a bit of a quest of mind, a hopeful endeavor added to my morning walks. My extended neighborhood has several foxes and I would see them fairly often on my longer walks and runs. But a few months back it occurred to me that's been quite sometime since my last sighting and I began to be more watchful, training my eyes along the edge of woods and the path, knowing of their preference for hunting at dawn and dusk and making sure I was out the door before sunrise to catch one returning from its hunt. 

and yesterday I did.

as last, a fox.

it was just a shadow at first, a glimpse of motion,  right along the edge of a deeper patch of woods and it instantly gave me reason to pause. Nothing else moves with that certain grace, a slivering glide, almost a low flight across the ground and yet somehow so completely connected to the earth. In just a moment he came more sharply into view, stopping just a few yards before me, curious, a brief glance shared between us, meaningful - at least for me. 

and then it was over, almost vanishing into the woods, his motion so smooth that it took an instant for it register that he was actually gone. Yet that sense of grace and wildness lingered and I was not yet ready to move on, still staring into the woods, holding on to that last bit of magic in the air. At last, a fox, an early morning sighting the filled the remainder of my day with the joy of that encounter.  This morning, light rain and the cloud cover keeping early light at bay, there was no sign of my fox. But there were songbirds already giving note, a few rabbits nibbling blades of grass, geese, all unconcerned by rainfall. There's magic everywhere, nature providing me a continuous sense of awe. 

yesterday,

at last, a fox.

and this morning...

s different glimpse of magic. 

~

Peace, Eric