Fauna

After weeks of sun and wind and no rain,
everything loses its shape in the grass—

birds, shadows of birds, lovers, footballs.
As you watch, two deer run right up to the road

and freeze, gazing at traffic, almost disappearing.
Clouds roll up, the credits of a film you’ve just

slept through, so nothing makes sense
except these deer—so thin, so silent.

They turn and flee, like thought, back to the trees.
And then, as in the stories, it softly begins to rain.