Night Hikes

Night,

smoke near

the water

not for the

first time

we

walk, not light 

— darkness, we

crept down

the road… 

sudden

stop, 

what stands

in the

briars? one

of us hears 

the chime

of a 

collar,

the other

sees (the

hallucination) 

a magician

further down — 

his

invisible 

hound lies

low to the 

ground, 

in a moment 

will pounce,

feels the scratch

of soft

blades of

grass.

One breath,

We breathed.

It jumps.