Shiver

The fox moves through twilight

paws soft on frost

Shadows stretch between trees

larger shapes waiting

Cold wind hums

through the skeletal branches

Each step measured

each breath quiet

I press close to the earth

moving where eyes cannot follow

Eyes glint in hollow spaces

fur bristles at rustle

A fisher drifts along trunks

awkward, silent, watching

Every twig cracks beneath me

echoes a presence unnamed

The shadow has followed for years

patient, cruel in quiet ways

Lingering near, a brother unseen

longer than I can remember

I dart

I weave

through the night that bends

You are bigger

but your claws cannot touch me

I move unseen

I am the shadow

you cannot reach

Every step shivers

every breath glimmers

Branches brush my fur

like fingers unnamed

Tracks vanish beneath frost

whispers ride the restless wind

This shadow was once near

a brother among trees

but I slip through roots and stones

smaller, clever, unbroken — free

I dart

I weave

through the night that bends

Every heartbeat, every breath

I reclaim the spaces once yours

The fox moves free

quiet, clever, unseen, unbroken — alive