By Anita Tanner
Or right-click here to download the audio file: Advent: Moose in Moonlight
…he hath no form nor comeliness;
and when we shall see him
there is no beauty
that we should desire him.
—Isaiah 53:2
Among the death of foliage
in skeleton trees
he appears, moonlight gracing
his rack—that upturned,
awe-inspiring crown.
Hint of his heavy breath
grizzles the air
beside the ponderous weight.
He comes to the edge, pauses
as witness of winter’s extremities,
careful that our eyes meet:
stark litigant.
Flake by flake the dark earth
fills with exquisite whiteness,
depth and abundance amplified
longer than the moon endures.