THE WOODS OUT BACK
Looking from my big back porch
I see the woods out back
And leading to its shelter
I see a faint deer track
In a nice secluded spot
A doe and fawn now sleep
Opossums, skunks, and raccoons
Are in its leafy deep
Birds find haven in the woods
Their love songs fill the air
While frogs, toads, and even bugs
Find food and shelter there
A bear sits in a hollow oak
Eating nectar of the bees
Squirrels scamper here and there
Among the other trees
Underneath a bramble bush
Is a little brown hare
Hiding her nest of babies
Because it’s safer there
Sitting in the tallest tree
Is a big-eyed screech owl
Watching all that lies below
With his feathery scowl
The sun dapples a worn path
Berries grow everywhere
Flowering plants hug a stream
Their scents perfume the air
The woods out back teem with life
And I love to walk the floor
Beneath its great leafy boughs
Through its great open door
12/21/88 Phyllis DeWitt-VanVleck
