Though They Seem Tame

The deer are out there in the dark
Doing whatever deer must do
To make it through another night
Without falling asleep for good.

Tomorrow, those that have survived
And not been blindsided by light
Or pulled by hunger to the ground
Will be back to stalk the gardens

Belonging to rightful owners
Who have tended and abandoned
Various invented Edens
In the mountains, in the desert,

In all the places where the deer,
Big-eyed, grey-hided, cloven-hoofed,
Forever on the move for food,
Each briefly graze eternity.