by C.A. Shoultz

Once I went into the forest, wand’ring,

Amid the gloomy greenness of the trees,

Seeking… what? I was not sure.

I only felt that what I looked for lay

Within that forest, somewhere, out of reach.

And then, just then, there came into the trees

A swell of sunlight, something bright and gold

That came out of the sky,

And lit the space,

And made all of the branches seem to me

The arches of some old cathedral vault.

A rustle—and I turned, and I could see

A little deer, a doe, walk from the trees,

And walk into the clearing, where the sun

Caught up its coat, and made it seem to shine

In some way, some way I could not describe.

I watched it, and I watched it stoop its head,

To nibble on some grass, and everything

Seemed like it had been frozen in spun glass

As clear and golden sunshine came about

And seemed to hang, suspended, in the air.

The doe-deer turned, and walked back to the trees.

Yet ever since, she has been on my mind.

Something about that moment, and that time,

Something about that space—it has remained.

I see inside my mind that open field

And see the doe there, gleaming in the sun,

And I know that some thing is waiting there,

Within that image.

What? I am not sure.

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C.A. Shoultz is a poet and writer currently living in Texas. His most recent previous poem for us was “On Midsummer’s Night.”