Red

All the while

I was teaching

in the state of Virginia

I wanted to see

gray fox.

Finally I found him.

He was in the highway.

He was singing

His death song.

I picked him up

And carried him

Into a field

While the cars kept coming.

He showed me

How he could ripple

How he could bleed.

Goodbye I said

To the light of his eye

As the cars went by.

Two mornings later

I found the other.

She was in the highway.

She was singing

Her death song.

I picked her up

And carried her

Into the field

Where she rippled

Half of her gray

Half of her red

While the cars kept coming.

While the cars kept coming.

Gray fox and gray fox.

Red, red, red.

Mary Oliver, Red Bird (Beacon Press, 2008)