Little Red Deer by Sara Wright

At the forest edge

  twigs rustle,

papery leaves

betray

a vision of grace

  emerging

from behind

my chair.

Staring intently

liquid coals

will me

to turn…

You nibble

a few grasses

at my feet

without fear.

We meet

on pine strewn paths

or when I trim

 cherry or rose

plucking old thorns.

At dawn you stand

outside my window.

I encounter you on

the road.

You must be following me

 for a reason.

Between us,

Kinship exists,

 a mystical bond

not bound

by time –

a silvery thread

woven between

species in gold –

Your choice

not mine.

Too thin –

almost gaunt

from hunger?

Do I imagine

Deep Longing?

Our bond

a fragrant flower

 bone

to bone.

You dined

 on my anemones

nibbled

sweet honeysuckle

lilies too.

If

sharing flowers

with you

helps those

ribs to recede,

then take

what you need.

Please!

Friendships

are scarce –

vanish

without reason

in a field

of dreams.

 I treasure

this meeting

of soul and body

burnished red skin

your peaceful

countenance,

  ears that listen.

We are present

for each other

in that place

beneath words.

I wonder if

you mourn

  lost forest

 as I do –

or is it a dead

fawn that

was taken

from you?

Either way

Peace abounds

when we share

field and stream

 trees bearing fruit

 in this

finite oasis,

Our Beloved

Home.

Commentary:

Interspecies communication is not new. Indigenous peoples have been engaged in this process for millennia. It is only recently that western culture has dismissed this bond between animals, plants, and the rest of nature as absurd, irrational, sentimental etc.

Science is making it clear that humans are only one species on an earth that thrives on communication as well as cooperation. No one is saying that competition doesn’t exist in nature, but science (at least new science – not the old patriarchal materialistic paradigm) is saying that overall, cooperation is the norm.

When we live close to nature as I do we are in a better position perhaps to experience that deep level of communication and relationship with other species because these animals and plants and trees are an intrinsic element of our backyards… However, it is my belief that anyone, city person or country person is capable of connecting with other species in meaningful ways if they choose to do so. Perhaps a city person might have a relationship with a cat, or one tomato plant. The important thing is to open oneself to the possibility that we have something to learn from every species we encounter.

This means that we insist upon putting the truth that lives in our bodies first, and not allowing patriarchy to destroy what we have always known in our bones. No small challenge, especially since we are routinely educated out of this inner knowing. Some of us don’t even know we have it.

Just now, I have this red deer that is living right here at the house at the edge of the forest. My two little dogs wag their tails as they greet her outside the window every morning! She has no fear of them either.

I don’t know what this deer is telling me just yet. The older I get the more patient I become. I no longer turn immediately to natural history or mythology for possible explanations, but instead choose to sit with my unknowing allowing meaning to unfold in its own time.

 Writing poems or prose about another species seems to activate my unconscious and the mystic in curious ways.

 I have come to rely on this method for eventual insight on a personal and collective level, while participating in the actual ongoing experience.

BIO: Sara Wright is a naturalist, ethologist (a person who studies animals in their natural habitats) (former) Jungian Pattern Analyst, and a writer. She publishes her work regularly in a number of different venues and is presently living in Maine.