Feral
       

That year the world handbasketed to hell,
                        To bind our busted
              Loves to something guileless and frail

We brought a rabbit home. We bought the cage,
                        The sweetest timothy,
              The pellets and the pine. We rearranged

The house to make him room. We couldn't wait
                        To rest his softness
              In our laps, to feel him soften

To our touch, to touch the tender of his head
                        All undefended.
              But he flinched from every gentle,

Every gesture in his presence, trembled
                        When we tendrilled
              Green shoots to his feeding,

Hunched for cover at our coming. Every evening's
                        New endeavor
              To lure him into his enclosure

He fled, and ended hackled in a corner
                        Heartbeating
              Like we were predators.

The more he ran, the more we had to chase.
                        Anon, apace,
              We each fulfilled the other's fears.

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Copyright © 2019 Kimberly Johnson All rights reserved
from Poetry Northwest
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission