Hidden, Hiding

scurrying past gravel paths, a single mouse crouches
its back faces up, a bristling sand coat
it freezes, all of its muscles tense, each breath shallow and careful
up ahead, a figure slices the sky
covered by wisps of cloud and shadow
the hawk cuts through blue like scissors through satin, draping itself in jewels of sunlight
far below the hawk’s gliding perch,
a deer stands alert within bushes and dense stalk
its eye twitches with the sound of the wind,
the padding of footsteps on flattened grass
it prepares to run
a few yards away, a tiger dances under dark blankets sliding easily between the grasses,
its body ripples like sunset tides
liquid, cast with streaking shadows
not hiding, but hidden, a steady eye stalking fearful prey