I saw a dead deer in the ditch
legs stiff in the air
reaching out for something
I pulled over out of the dark night traffic
the deer was face down, eyes open
in a roadside bag of old, antsy hamburgers.
I began to cry, but then it hit me
that while the hamburgers weren’t everlasting
the deer was!
I cried anyway (for a new reason), went home
after I kissed the deer on the forehead
got in bed, got face down
in my bedside bag of mushrooms
then got deeply down into my pillows so that
maybe,
I too
could be everlasting.
We were shining.
