They say the tiger stalked the man
who tried to shoot him
circled his cabin for days
waiting for him to return
quiet as snow
he pounced
and all that was left
were a pair of boots
and the shriek
the trees were the only witnesses
thin old pines
they remember all the sounds of the forest
sucking them up like water
they say some indigenous folks can read the bark
like Braille
but you don’t want to know too much about this story
the rustle of leaves isn’t always the wind
sometimes it’s a shudder.