a time when

deer stole through the white wood,

heartbroken,

imagining warm green leaves-

blue stars,

a solitary cherished planet

shivering greytail

rotund chocolate eyes

imagining kinder forest voices

settled inside unbroken wide winter distances,

misty streams emanating frozen breath,

snow clumps falling from yellow and gold birch

wounded raw wet deer

imagining lucid silver pools,

endless earth trails, grass

innocent of boot print,

devoid of the hunter’s shells,

yes, instead imagining verdant hills, dells

to roam

steeped in the sweetness of patchouli clover

courageous classic deer

imagining seasons when apples fall effortlessly

there to lick-

taste,

resolute pathfinder,

woods without vengeance,

envisioning forests without assassins

back to a time when

wooden ships sailed on the water,

a time when imagination

merged with life

one dream realized,

one single life lived unbroken,

unconditionally

6/14/16

for the children of Sandy Hook Elementary