Paw Prints...

How do you court a lone wolf—

                With bouquets of open space

                        And ballads full of quiet;

                With photos of not your face;

                With meals left on tree stumps

                        and kisses deferred as thoughts,

                Cuddles pressed into pillows and

                        Affirmations bound in knots?

How do you howl, “I'd join you”

                                      Not sounding like the bark, “BE MINE”?

                With a hundred 

                        “If you'd like to's”

                                Left in a forest of 

                                        wandering time

Filled with dreamed-dripped conversations

        And smiles 

                to a face 

                        not there?

It's a lot like being single, 

courting

        A wolf 

                through the blue 

                        night air.