Deer in the spotlights

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.