Moonlit Wonderings

Midnight, the television dies.
I stand at the dark window
about to close velvet curtains
against the coming of the dawn.

Above the sickly sodium
vapour yellow pools of streetlight
the waxing moon hangs gibbous still;
a rotting mushroom in dirty skies.

On the lawn, where grass is etched
in jagged silver jottings
an urban fox is startled
by the clatter of a cat flap.

My old Jack Russell bumbles out
half blind, half deaf, but catches scent:
the musky odour of the wild
and her tail lifts – remembered joy.

The fox moves on , ignoring her
call of urban desire. She sniffs
where her would-be paramour sat
but he left no gift. She squats, pees.

I watch the fox as he dances
past dustbins and take-out trays
and yip-yip-yips through summer lawns
and melancholy moonlit wonderings.

'Urban Fox'
Watercolour
3 ½" x 2 ½"
$25