Sometimes when I walk
through a cool tunnel of trees
I think of her – the cougar
who came quietly to the creek
I sat beside, not seeing me,
intent on the water pouring 
from the lake above. At first 
she was the slightest flicker
in the corner of my eye,
tawny fur in tawny grass.
Enough vision for one lifetime. 
May she stay away
since she came once,
may she let me pass
beneath these trees,
may we live our separate lives.