After the holiday
staring down the dusk
at the window:
a rabbit in the yard.
 
Surprising since the rabbits
vanished into the deep woods
when the children and that young
sapling were just a few feet tall.

It hops from sparse snow
to the camouflage of dead leaves
where the oak gained forty years
of girth and height
still growing now into its
stateliness.

The rabbit melts into the rooted earth
and the brown-gloved hands
of the tree release at last
their tenacious hold
and flutter to the ground.

On its bare bones
buds burst
and soon the green-flesh arms
lift up to greet the
   
mysterious
auspicious
brave
new year.


© by Carol Amato.
Used here with the author's permission.