A stag bends his antlers
to the driveway
in ceremony.
Stuck in the fence,
all he angled to do was
welcome a silver car
loud with light.
Our tight lids
smothered with
mittens, engine
idle and exhaust
layer in requiem.
Yellow eyes flare
in the bush as ours
through the wool.
In my memory,
your face is as bare
as the legs tangled
up in the gate – all
I could think about
as you bit your
thumbnail, how
animals gaze as
placidly as a frozen
lake with rocks
switch-blading across
the surface when
trapped, how
greeting turns
to trespass as the
mangled trust of
two creatures
approaching a
doorway looks like
antlers lightning-
struck by high
beams.