Saturday, May. 24, 2008 - 10:53 a.m.
The Foxes part 1
***********
Every few years
the population of rabbits
explodes
- you see bunnies everywhere
as they destroy gardens
and eat young fruit trees
Everytime you walk
through a meadow'
you will flush out a dozen rabbits
of all sizes
they breed like,
well rabbits
Nature always balances out
no matter what
Greenpeace says
the cosmic response
to so many rabbits
is a huge upswing
in the number
of foxes around here
I saw several foxes last summer
Jinky was mistaken for a fox
him being so red and agile and small
This spring
there are a lot of extra foxes around
the Ministry of Natural Resources
has been in town trapping them
looking for signs of canine rabies
but to determine this
the foxes have to be killed
and their brains sliced up
Infected or not they must die
to determine a diagnosis
I know of at last three dens
of baby foxes in town
where people protect them
from the government
euthanasia squads
and sometimes feed
the nursing mother on the sly-
but never interfere with her activities
hunting rabbits
slinking around in the shadows
like Jews amongst the Nazis
Tonight a neibour came over
and whispered to me that
if i am quick and absolutely quiet
I can zip over to a certain location
and peek into her friends backyard
from begind a garden shed
and view four baby foxes at play
as they wrestle at the mouth of their
drainage pipe den,
carefully hidden by reeds
- all this is at at dusk
while their mother Vixen
is away briefly catching rabbits
doing her part
to restore
the balance of nature
And I did go over at dusk
and sat as silent and still
as if I was dead
& to the best of my ability
pretending i was just not there
and i did see four baby foxes
emmerge from their
drainage pipe den and peer about
It was wonderful to see them
observe me and decide
that i was no threat
and then they began to wrestle
in absolute silence
it was eerie how quiet they were
not one leaf or a blade of grass
betrayed a single decibel
I could hear my heart beat
my breath swirl in my nostrils
my saliva pop gently in my teeth
as the baby foxes wrestled
in supernatural silence
they were perfectly formed
and as I looked closely
I could see each one was coloured
slightly different:
a white tipped tial here
a rosy muzzle there
black mask here
front legs white there
and when part of the wrestle sequence
broke into good natured mock humping
i was able to distinguish
there were two brother humpers
and two sisters humpees
and when that all broke up
and ran around is silky silence
i swear i could sence
the s exagerated
girlish movements
of the sisters
and the gruffer boy poses
of the brothers
i know cats are
definately boys and girls
their demeanor
clearly defines their gender
as surely as it does
amongst people
and here was the basic
viva la difference factor
being displayed in wild foxes
I saw one young fox spotted
a squirrel skulking past
on an overhead wire
as the others played
and she transmited this deftly
to the others
with a crisp nod and glance
in a mere second
the squirrels location
was common knowledge
I can now appreciate that if
a fox decided to hunt Taser
it would be a three second swoop
and one red kitten would be gone
never to be seen again.
I will always have to watch him
especially at dusk
when the wild beings are hunting
Once coyotes were my biggest worry
as stealers of cats
i can add foxes to the list now
and maybe someday: Wolverines & Bears
It was wonderful to see
the wild foxes at play
at dusk
on a perfect May evening
I will go again tomorrow
I shared this with Emma
who may or may not
show up and see for herself
if she doesn't have to work
the greatest show on earth
in a drainage pope
