Panther Lost Poem by Caroline Misner

A docile panther lost in the night,
parting boughs if pine and cedar
with rough calloused paws,
and eyes of amber light.

Silent as a feather through a comb
she slips with the wind, gulping
the sweet liquors of darkness;
the forest is now her home.

No moon left to guide her way,
she’s a suicide gone wrong;
hardly a chance to digest
the rodents that are her prey.

With the other petty thieves that share
her pebbled and speckled trail,
another week shall find her
drowsing in her lair.