In Plumpton Woods

Her long leap clears the beck.
A second, held by air,
perfect stretch of muscle,
carved from tail to muzzle.

Snout to scent, a second’s
calibration sends her
off in an explosion.
Hind to fore legs scissor,
drumming silently
to our muffled ears,
but deep within blackthorn,
far beneath, in tunnels
linking burries, soil falls.

Under an Autumn moon
silver etched hedges sway,
shivering, they whisper,
The midnight hunter’s prayer;

Wind blow our milky stench
from buck and jenny doe,
sweep away, breath and step
so silently we go.
Wrap cotton round the moon
and cloaks of black for us.

The wind, obliging, does.

Leashed now, she strains, eyes bright,
inhales the loamy night.
Held fast against my thigh.
both crouching low to stalk,
through damp long grass, ten yards.
We hold and then ten more.

I feel her silent yelp.
She tenses beside me,
I know to raise the lamp.

Another twenty yards,
in the hedgerow’s shadow.
The scuts of two, no, three
flick up, some freeze and stare,
eyes illuminated.

Ten yards, I slip the lead,
and her trajectory
describes a perfect arc
towards her chosen doe.
The others scatter wild.
It tacks from left to right,
panicking for cover.
The bitch stays on its heels,
coursing close,turning tight
abreast, she reaches, grabs
and fails, accelerates
with predatory grace,
turning so quick I fail,
to keep them in my beam,
for moments I am blind,
hearing the thrashing field.
I sweep the fatal light
in terror of her harm,
a broken leg or neck.
She can not stop her self.
I breathe as they fly past,
like beads on the same string.
She reaches, twists her throat,
already slowing down
the quarry in the turn.
Her jaws spring shut and lift,
a scream, her brakes are drawn.
Trotting back , she has to readjust
to hold the kicking prey.

Softly she lays it down
Without a single mark,
much gentler than the male.

I grasp it by back legs,
Pull the neck out and down,
until I hear a snap.
She comes close for petting.
I stroke her head and neck.
We salute the escaped,
and thank the fecund earth.
The moon is nude again,
revealing other paths,
and deeper in the woods,
beyond the edge of night,
we go.