Little Red Fox

• Chloe Curtin, Grade 10, Georgiana Molloy Anglican School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'Write As Rain 2014' competition

Hush. Savor the taste of harmony in the forest: its honeyed perfume
The silver night is tainted in peace and ecstasy. The aroma of comfort is wafting in the musky oak.
The bare branches have their arms outstretched, welcoming the embrace of the sweet heavens above,
The crisp sheet of snow blankets the bed of the undergrowth, tucking in like a mother to her young.
Delicate snowfall brushes the fledgling pine, planting kisses of blessings for the seasons to come.
Dappled fawns so peacefully nestled with their beloved mothers.
But alas, in this enchanted night so enriched in peace, there is a mournful place where this light won’t reach.
A little red fox lays awake amongst the bracken
His russet muzzle dipped drearily in despair
With pelt of autumn maple and tail of flame
With eyes so beautiful, and a heart that glows
Oh how can one bear of such misery?
Behind his mask he wears of poise
He is miserable, lonely and forgotten by time.
If his body was sunshine, then his insides rain
Pitiful and woeful. His strength has been sapped
Where is she like the deer to her fawn?
When will my mother come home?
She has banished for days to visit the stars
And now anguished had claimed me alone
I am drowning within the depths of a melancholy sea
It’s engulfing me wholly. And now I cannot breathe
For such unconditional love is in no comparison
And losing such shall shatter my soul
So now I lay awake to view those scarlet stars scattered over the sky,
That dawn sky is like me. Lingering red, pasted phases desperately clinging onto the safety of the night, now wanting day to break.
Someday that dawn light shall filter me over, and it will be my mother’s presence I shall feel again.