Though it ended with no venison in the freezer, the weekend was not lost. Two amazing days in Creation are medicine for any soul. While I sat awaiting my quarry, I filled my notebook with the inspirations and the experience of basking in God’s handiwork– even if man did interrupt the tranquility with distant traffic noise and low-flying planes. And so… a few haikus from a tree stand:

My body shivers.
I see my breath in brisk air.
Sun’s rising warms me.

A nuthatch of Payne’s,
enters his cozy knot hole.
Then re-emerges.

three pink ribbons dance
tied to small trees marking lines
that men imagine

Breaking winter grays:
green moss, lichens sage and gold.
The trees are still dressed.

Five clean, white birches
stand neatly in a straight row.
One leans in to kiss.

I hear ‘swish’ above.
look to see, just over trees,
an eagle fly low

a blue jay clamors.
he leaps branch to branch squawking
oddly musical

A lonely, charred stump
recalls a forest fire
a century past.

squir’l scampers through leaves.
stops to devour a feast:
a cupcake I tossed

Long strings of black pearls
adorn the tall, gray lady
with green, bristled hair

I came for the deer
but now I’m hunting for words
to write my haiku.

among the drab hues
a sudden flash of azure
wings flourishing white

invisible thread
catches the sun, glints silver
and then disappears

Tree shadows lengthen
reaching to end a short day
and silence the woods.