Pleasant evening drive
after a taxing workday
heading to supper
ahead, in the road,
a little creature trotting
like some kind of cat
I said, What IS that?
I can’t tell, said my husband
so sphinx-like, it was
long, low, and silver
big pointy ears, feline grace
canine whiskered face
—oh! we cried, a fox!—
as it vanished, phantom-like,
in the shrouding woods.
We’d have known it right away, had it been red. We see those occasionally. Gray foxes are actually native to the area, however; the red fox didn’t appear in this part of the country until the 1800s. I cannot recall having seen a gray fox before. It was small and lovely, with a grizzled silver coat so prized by hunters. These are the only foxes that can climb trees.
I wonder where our enigmatic gray fox was going on its jaunt along the woodland road just before dusk…and how many more of its kind are about, in the secret places…
Photo: Gray Fox. Keith Wescourt. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
lit bits and pieces 
Very cool sighting. I don’t think I have seen a gray fox either. I have seen lots of red fox.
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The animal was jogging along the center line of the winding country road which threads through trees near a large pond (plenty of houses here, too). I watched it coming toward us and honestly thought it was a good-sized cat; the jogging was catlike. Yet something was off…my husband slowed the car and we watched until it passed, and even then we didn’t discern it as a fox until we saw that large, distinctive tail.
We were awestruck.
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Sounds like a pretty fun encounter. Maybe you will see her again soon!
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I’ve heard we have foxes, but I’ve never seen one. I love how you made this event come forth in a poem.
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My oldest son lives in a parsonage in the countryside and has been out in the yard when a fox trotted through on whatever fox business it was attending to. They are supposed to be mostly nocturnal so seeing one in daylight is concerning.. the one we saw was jogging along the center line of a winding country road which threads through trees near a large pond and many houses. I watched it coming toward us and honestly thought it was a good-sized cat; the jogging was catlike, yet…different. My husband slowed the car and we watched until it passed. Even we didn’t discern it as a fox until we saw that large, distinctive tail. An awe-filled moment. It seemed full-grown and much smaller than I’d expect a fox to be.
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