Squirrel!

Photo by alex lauzon on Unsplash

I am that person who will always stop to watch a squirrel play, or a deer meander through the woods. Common and drab as the squirrels around here may be, I still find it delightful to watch their self-contained worlds.

Coming downstairs from my apartment,

I made eye contact with a squirrel on the fire escape.

A little gray-brown thing who looked surprised to see me

coming down the stairs on the other side of the glass.

She jumped to the wall and onto the roof edge.

I went to the window and saw her there,

on the flat edge of the roof next to the gutters.

She scratched at the tiles in the rhythm of:

"What was that? What was that? What was that?"

I tucked myself into the shadows and watched her --

scratching, slowing, coming to stillness,

then slowly across the roof out of my sight.

What movement of the heart and the human world must I make

for her to feel peaceful looking at me, looking at her?

Beautiful gray-brown thing.