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    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


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