Constantly

rabbits hop behind bushes or

into places too small for me to access

under cars or anywhere unlit by streetlights

and I walk

exposed

wondering what is down there

where I cannot go

and otherwise would not want to

but for my attraction to

their seeming obsessive desire

to be shadowed and hidden there

and doing what?

---

Most nights I am happy to imagine quaint scenes

around rabbit-sized dining tables

(made from discarded yogurt containers):

Dad cutting the roast carrot

rambunctious rabbit daughter

who cannot stop from hopping into

the revelation of the front lawn.

Or something more animated:

Bugs Bunny on speed

in front of a small flaming trash can

that’s actually a soup can

holding court and talking shit

about Michael Jordan.

---

And on a night like tonight

when I am afforded too much

time to think

I inevitably consider my self:

Are they hopping to hide from me?

Are they afraid of me or is there some

life in that shade to be protected from me

because they can see me

and they know me

and know that I will

find the life down there

and squeeze it out?

---

Tomorrow I will walk in the new dark

with rabbits hopping behind bushes or

into places too small for me to access

under cars or anywhere unlit by the moon

and I can either think about

what they might be doing

if I never walked past:

Would they be happier under the pale

exposure of the world without me?

---

Or I can imagine that my presence

is as significant to them

as theirs is to me

that they consider what my life is

that they hope I do more than just walk around

but live fully and vibrantly

as they do

---

or I can remember that they are simply rabbits

doing rabbit things which seem great

and I am human doing human things

which do not always seem great

and which are all made harder

than necessary

by neurotic fantasy and self-obsession

and thinking too much about whether

rabbits are as dumb as me

or if they suffer the same way.

---

(We tend to attribute to animals either the qualities of God or the qualities of ourselves; that’s how we figure out which ones to eat.)

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