Goodbye, My Doe

BLAM

My peaceful afternoon is torn asunder.

The windows shake.

My heart pounds.

Lightning bolts of fear shoot through me,

As does the question,

“Did they get her?”

BLAM

Thump-whump, thump-whump

My surgical boot leads me to a window.

There they stand, two men, leaning on my neighbor’s fence.

There they stand, looking into the field.

There they stand.

Did they get her?

VROOM-VROOM

The truck pulls out onto the road.

My road, the one in front of my house.

It stops just past my house, barely past.

Out they climb, into the field they go.

Back to the truck they trudge.

They got her.

She was so beautiful in life:

Sleeping in the tall grass,

Standing on her hind legs reaching for apples,

Nuzzling her baby,

Ears erect, listening, ever alert.

They got her.

Now, limp in death

She lies in the bed of a dirty truck—

Tossed in like so much dirty laundry.

I fight back tears of anger,

Tears of sorrow, tears of loss.

They got her.

Goodbye, my doe.

You brought me much joy.

 I watched your motherly love,

Laughed at your fawn’s playful leaps,

Awaited your morning visits to my apple trees.

Goodbye, my doe, you served God’s purpose well.