The Deer in Tacoma

As we laced up our shoes on the balcony 

I heard the sound of her first, 

the thunder and blur of reddish brown fur–

The deer galloped just underneath us

and disappeared around the corner. 

My partner, incredulous, said, 

Did you see her? 

No, but I felt the kinetic force of her, 

the rush and whoosh of slim powerful legs 

carrying her elsewhere, 

to feast on thick grasses and Shasta daisies 

and prance beneath the pale sliver of moon, 

which hung in the sky like a warning or a dream. 

Will, I, too, walk and dance and laugh 

with the aliveness of a fresh summer morning, 

every moment entirely, unutterably new?