EARTH ~

"hound, bay, horse, and turtle dove"



We were sitting around the fire waiting
for the coffee to boil I was seeing
the first sun rays begin their dance upon
the dew when three deer walked into the clearing
on the hill above our camp they were there
browsing the young blackberry tips
and I poured myself


some coffee and realized that we
were all of a piece when they moved
into the clearing a circle was drawn
around them and the field and our camp
the firs and the tamarac faded into each
other while all the grasses and brambles shone
with their own light and nothing
seemed to escape my vision and


my ears turned to the sounds of the worms
burrowing and the insects seeking food
and shelter then my dog barked
and I wavered and the circle
undulated the landscape but the deer
remained then the tremor passed and still


the deer remained and we were one piece
of a land no longer puzzled and someone
shouted Aye! The deer!
a tractor echoes at the boundary
a chainsaw cut
into my wildness. I watched


the deer, the muscle go tight, their ears spring to.
Then it was but a quick leap to safety in the wilderness.



____________________

Joe Napora

The Daniel Boone Poems
Travels into the Interior
(Wind Publications
600 Overbrook Dr.,
Nicholasville KY 40356)