A Summer Time Poem

I've just found this poem that I wrote in October and never looked at again (which is what happens to most of my poems). It's just a rough, unedited flow of thoughts, but it made me smile to remember its inspiration. (Charlotte, you should remember it well, too, since you shared in it.)It's one of my best Nashville memories.


Cheekwood Deer

In the summer woods,
Our eyes feasting on
The deep green, the
Glowing leaves,
The rotting logs,
The flitting birds,
The tiny purple flowers
Strewn at our feet
We stopped short, held our breath,
Motionless and staring:
Five young brown newly-antlered
Bearers of quiet
Watching us calmly
Only feet away

They didn't bother to get up;
They are used to the sight of us--
Gangly awkward things
But we are full of wonder:
Transfixed by
The supple bodies
The deep sweet eyes
The sculpted, ivory headdresses
The regal indifference

***

I pull myself away,
Reluctant, the light is
Dimming now--to the water
Garden to watch the day end;
I look back once,

But they have followed us to the water,
Where we sit watching the
Sunset melt into the floating leaves
We count, our breath catching
With each addition:
One, two, four, five!
Sweet, prancing, light bodies
Floating across the field,
Do their hooves touch the ground?
They are like memories

They pause one last moment--their silhouettes
Against the summer skyline
My heart a well of
Gratitude--

I am still dipping into
The sweetness