Rays of Dawn

Forthcoming in "Wilderness House Literary Review"

It was dark and tempestuous,
shadows crept out of crevices
leering menacingly
The bright eyes of night creatures
gazed at her- ominous and threatening
The moon was cold and distant,
white mingled with silver, dispassionate, hostile
The stars blinked maliciously
eyeing and mocking her and her fruitless struggles
to escape from the forest
They twinkled and shone faintly
deliberately gleaming weakly,
so that she may lose her way once more
The trees towered over her- skeletal, gaunt,
they loomed portentously, offering a branch
for sinister, baleful critters to perch on
and direct their unswerving gaze at her
The leaves rustled purposefully,
as if their sole aim was to expose her position
Trees camouflaged with the darkness,
behaving like a wall of black-
an impediment to her progress
to escape from the forest
Nocturnal animals howled, communicated eerily
with sounds unearthly, with glittering eyes
did they perceive the doe
With haughty mockery did they consider
her feeble attempts to return home
She flew through the forest-
the cold, foreboding forest
She leaped about for endless hours,
lost, bewildered, confused
Until there came the ray of light,
slicing though the sky in a shower of sparkles
indicating approaching dawn
The doe sat up hopefully, looking at the
lush, green trees, amiable creatures,
cordial birds flying about
Carefully, retracing her steps, she found a path
to escape from
Heaving a sigh of relief, she looked up gratefully
at the shimmering sun, and its golden light
that had guided her to safety
from the forest at night