Deer In Early April – a poem by Elaine Reardon

Deer In Early April


We saw five deer in late afternoon, two newly born
wander out of deep pine woods into the meadow.
They walked on crumbled ice edging the brook 
soundless in the soft April snow. 

I moved here from a city with the rumble of traffic 
and triple deckers leaking sound on warm nights.
Our homes almost hugged each other, they were that close.
In winter we grabed sleds and raced each other down the street.

Here my closest neighbors are deer and owl, hare and fox.
Early spring is quiet, except the first quacks of wood frogs.
We wait for the spring peepers and bullfrogs to join the song.
Returning light stirs us all.

I watch the deer melt into the meadow.
They stop and the fawn jumps—
back legs flung high
with great exultation.

Elaine Reardon is a poet, herbalist, and painter who lives surrounded by forest. Her first two chapbooks, The Heart is a Nursery For Hope, 2016, and Look Behind You, were published by Flutter Press. Stories Told In A Forgotten Tongue, an immigrant story, was recently published by Finishing Line Press. www.elainereardon.wordpress.com.