Poem from Here - guest poet

My first guest for the Poem from Here series is my friend Nick Ferentinos:



Me and Victor and the Deer


She was trapped on the rocks,
Her hindquarters sunk in the icy surf,
When Victor came upon her
In his gentle expedition around the point.

His boat carried us to the doe
Through the cold water
Where we found her
No longer struggling.

She couldn’t look at us,
This wild, sad deer.
Men are to be feared...
Run when they approach...

We lifted her into the boat
And I held her—
Never stopping touching her,
Telling her in the wrong language
That we loved her—
This gentle, loving man
And I.

I whispered to her as we lay on the dock
Together
Waiting for Victor to tie up the old boat,
His lungs betraying his heart,
His steps measured and weaker.

And I promised we’d keep Death away.

The battered pickup carried us to Victor’s home
Where blankets and warmth waited...
Where her trembling could stop...
Where we could give her life back.

When she was dry—
Only then—
Could she look at us
And she must have wondered
Why these creatures—
These men—
Would save her.

She wanted so to leave,
To rise up,
To return to to the wilds,
But when we tried to let her go,
Her legs refused to carry her...
Until she rested a bit.

We watched and we waited
And when the time was right,
She rose and left,
Stopping at the top of the hill
To munch on some grass.

I’d like to believe
She will remember
My gentle old friend
And me
As she slips back into her world,
But I suppose that’s just foolishness.
“She’s just an animal,”
The Park Ranger would say,
As he did to me one day.

And so she is...
And so is the Park Ranger...
And so are Victor and me.



© 1975 Nicholas Ferentinos