as she backs into her driveway
she sees four deer
shadowy forms slow motion
dancing their way
across her neighbor’s lawn

these messengers—incorrigible
bark and twig eaters,
evergreen bush nibblers—offer
to the open willing heart
this warning—don’t hide
in your suffering
from your burning life

we’ve survived another
hunting season—now
only the long cold, the crusted
snow, the endless night
to move through  
                                    12/17/2004
Read about the Messenger Poems: https://singingfrogpress.com/2023/05/19/about-the-messenger-poems/