Understanding (A Deer Friendship)

I have left the window open 

for you, the deer who lives 

beneath my sill and inside 

my dreams. We have an understanding

of how this world works. 

Of dirt that clings, 

of plants who promise 

Death. We have stared it down

on road and hill, you and I. 

We both blink slow and run fast

(though you are faster). 

I have left the window open 

in the hope you will enter.

I hope you will let me 

dig my fingers in your fur, 

and I will let you eat my hair. 

(If you like. Perhaps not as tasty

as what grows beneath my window).

We have an understanding 

of how Death will take us. 

Of dirt that clings, of eating 

and being eaten. But that will be another time; 

for now, 

my window is open.