Secret Life Revealed in Headlights...

Deer, Jack Rabbit, Coyote, & Owl, all in the course of one 15 minute drive home under the full moon.

Deer, standing at the side of the road. Casually eating the tips of the first green growing grasses in the high desert spring. I slow down as i approach, not wanting to startle her. As i slow, i see Fawn beside her. They are thin this spring, slightly shaggy and still those stunning big black eyes that can see right thru my thoughts. I try to empty my mind. Am careful of the excitement that i can feel when i see Deer so close. For i know that Deer can feel what i feel. her keen senses stretching into the night and reading it. Did you hear my silent thanks for your daily presence? Do you feel the pull of the moon when it's full? Do you wonder at human's odd machines that zip by you on the road all day?

Jack Rabbit. Tall ears at the side of the road as you zigzag in the left lane.  Deer has already reminded me to slow down and pay even closer attention on the dark lone road. Your darting gate reminds me again to refrain from getting lost in thoughts of where i am going & pay attention to where i am this moment. And you? Are you leading me away from your little ones? Capturing my attention, being the star in the headlights & keeping me distracted while they run in the other direction for cover?

Coyote. In the peripheral light of my high beams you looked much more red than Coyote and small enough to be Fox. If i had seen your tail i would have been sure.  You blended so closely into the landscape, i'm not sure how i saw you. movement perhaps. Perhaps it was just that my senses were heightened by the evening of Tibetan Transformational Breathwork that i was returning home from. I had to slow, almost to a stop to really see you, to discern your slightly reddish in the desert yellows and browns. You stopped for a moment when i stopped. Once again we exchanged glances in the night. Then you were off on your way.  Where do you go in the night? Were you looking for Jack Rabbit who i just passed zig-zagging in the road? Was she keeping you off her tail?

Owl. What a delight & a surprise to see you again. It has been months and months since you revealed yourself. And this time so close. You, in the air. I stopped the car. Felt like you were about to land on my windshield. Your enormous white underbelly glowing in the circle of headlights. I think i rustled you from a nearby tree. My lone car on the road so late. You came flashing from the side of the road, from a low pinon branch or your favorite sign post.

I haven't seen you here in a long time. The last time you stood in the center of the road. Tall. Huge seeming. Your ear tufts glowing like streams of light in the high beams. I stopped. You stayed. The two of us in the road facing one another. I was in awe. Heart melting as you turned to look directly at me. We stared, like two long lost friends meeting and not quite sure we were seeing who we thought we were. Or that's how it was for me. I can't say for you. The moments felt timeless, yet happened much too quickly.

I was willing to sit there and look at  you all night. Drink in the wonder & details of you - being of the night. What made you remain in the headlights, gazing from left to right with calm & grace? And why were you standing on the ground? Had you just captured one of the myriad of Mice that kamikaze across the asphalt  constantly on their missions in the sand?