Hunting Affirmation

Here is what you hunted for,
tripping to the page,
on its knees and dying.

I bring it to you, love,
carrying it dead on my back,
the blood eyes and rack of it,

while what you must have wanted
was to see it standing still,
the affirmation of its breath
in the crystal morning's chill:

It turns an ear to look at you,
nods to the center part,
then circles all around you
in the forest of the heart.


(Arkansas Magazine, March 31, 1985)