The Lodge

Our hosts greeted us, thick Texas accents surprising in
the soft twilight of Colorado nightfall.
To the best suite were we led, the long low lodge jutting
boldly off a narrow precipice,
Falling sharply to a stream, barely heard, far below.

The room was spare, two beds, a shadeless lamp casting
stark shadows on paint-chipped walls.
The heat inside was stifling, musty, this best room not oft used.
But a broad planked deck lay welcoming, a hot tub close to hand.

A home-cooked dinner beckoned, if’n y’all like chicken, fried.
We ate our fill, the beans, potatoes, rolls all satisfied,
Then made our way back, light-less, along the cedar deck.

We were the only guests that night, so boldly did we go
Clad only in our undies,
to settle toe by toe into a beckoning hot tub.
We giggled at the froth, the wicked bubbles rose
to tease and tempt and sooth, a tickle of the nose.

Darkness slides in slowly atop this mountain home.
Retrieving, wrapping, seeking, we turned to watch the flow.
Then, city eyes turned greedy, whiplashing to and fro,
as one by one we watched the glistening stars unfold.

Companions now in silence, sweet whisperings
of nothing special, no tangled web to keep.
A blackness wrapped around us, the stars almost in reach,
soft breezes gently stirring, a chill caressed my face.
The asteroids broke above us, cascades of pearls descending,
defying time and space.

I heard it first within, my bones reverberate, as up my spine
did feel the fullness of the sound.
A long, low mournful moan that crescendoed off the hills
A thrill, a chill, a fear, a prelude to a kill.

Our city ears did tremble with longing and delight
as closely did we peer into the thick good night.
The challenge, loud and raucous, did mock us as we sought
To capture with our eyes the lean and lethal foe who dared to
own the night.

The hills moaned for forever, as quickly did we rise, to seek the warmth and shelter
within that sturdy lodge.
The stuffiness dispelled now, as into bed we leapt, to listen
breathless, floating, to silence black and deep.
He came no more that evening to entertain, to thrill, though my bones will hold forever
That strange, unworldly tone, and in the blackness brewing, his freedom will I keep.