Chance Meeting with a Snake

my route

was a scar

up the face

of a cliff

rising over

a forest

but soon

there was only

one spot

for my feet

(or my hands)

and there

on that stone

there was

coiled

a black snake

and sensing

my presence

she hissed

and she squirmed

but I had

no agenda

and she had

after all

prior claim

to that stone

so I then backed away

to seek

a new route

and I left her

in peace

with her scars

gw2011