Rabbit Mountain
Went to camp with the European Rainbow Tribe
but our borrowed tent and sleeping bags did not
so spent the night in the open in a frozen sheep shit field
me going into hypothermic shock donned 3 pair
socks, 5 t-shirts, 3 shirts, socks on hands, t-shirt
around head plus a hat and held Lady tight all night
for warmth wondering how I could be freezing to death
in a field in the English highlands in August.
At dawn walked down mountain
through hundreds of rabbits hopping slowly
through fields on both sides of us
in early morning ritual,
rising sun lighting sky, leeching cold,
no people in sight or sound,
just ancient stone fences demarking even older land,
a land this morning of many moving rabbits
descending silent, unafraid.
– Smith, 2.19.2014
