‘Lepus’ by Stephanie Conn

Lepus

 
Their collective noun is ‘drove’
though they mostly live alone,
content with a solitary life,
 
or become one of a pair
growing brave in the spring;
chests puffed out, as if
 
fluid has filled the cavities
and dropsy has caused a long-forgotten
frenzy, that gives rise
 
to a meadow dash in daylight
or a moonlit boxing match
below the moon hare’s dark patches;
 
that ancient celestial ancestor,
as a distant cousin is driven south
by the hunter and his dogs.
 
Lepus is © Stephanie Conn (first published in Burning Bush II)