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# My Shadow and A Cardinal Kept Me Company on the Ride
- URL: https://the-stardust-journal-press.ghost.io/my-shadow-and-a-cardinal/
- Published: 2020-12-21T21:56:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-01T16:52:17.000Z
- Author: Daniel Rutberg
- Tags: poetry, bike ride, nature deer in the headlights, #Migrated-1782924600586, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-01 12:50

My shadow and a cardinal, kept me company on the ride  
The frogs are sleeping for the season, the winter sun is in the sky  
I rode past Yorktown, my usual stopping place  
I’ve missed the sweat of a hard ride, and had to up my pace

I felt my pain rewarded when a white tail deer appeared just as I had crested the rise. She stared at me for what seemed like an eternity and I braked hard and began to slide. She bolted at the screech of my brakes, into the woods, her tail visible as she raced. I rode hard after I saw her, heart pumping, muscles aching, a smile upon my face.

 A few minutes later, mindful of the traffic, I stopped to walk my bike across the road. A car stopped to let me pass, when I saw another's fast approach.   
It’s breaks squealed, it swerved to avoid my Good Samaritan and stopped along side

 I waved my gratitude. It was so clear to me that if she hadn’t stopped and waved me on I would have been the deer in the headlights of that fast approaching car.

My shadow and a cardinal, kept me company on the ride  
The frogs are sleeping for the season, the winter sun lights the sky,  
I am so lucky to be living  
So lucky to be alive.