From life to death.

The stoat stalks;
The rabbit stands,
Hypnotised and
Frozen.
The kill is quick.

From life to lunch,
In an instant.
From breath to death,
And the last
Heartbeat.

It was not the bite
From the short teeth
That kills,
But the shock
Which stills the heart.

I knew nothing of this.
I saw only the corpse
Of a rabbit, moving,
Invisibility drawn,
By what I could not see.

Then the stoat came into view,
Tiny compared to her prey.
She viewed me as I approacher her.
Reluctantly she backed away,
Abandoned her prey.

I passed on, mind full of my cares.
Then I stopped, and looked back,
It was to see the carcass of the rabbit,
Jerking, moving intermittently,
To the lunch table.

Belatedly the thought struck me.
How thin is the difference
between life and death,
And how precious each breath.