There’s a tree.

Only a tree.

Then an eye

And suddenly you are aware

The delicate features

The strong legs

The intricate antlers

That you couldn’t see before

But the eye entrances you

For though the body

Is tense in alertness

Ready to flee from you

The hunter

The eye has no fear

It is deep

Wild and tamed

Old and young

With a sharp pride

An innocence

A dignity

A dignity we lost

We took it from ourselves

We can’t take it from them

Then the slightest of sighs

That you can’t suppress

And there is no eye

There’s a tree.

Only a tree.

But you feel the loss

Of what you held

For an instant

Yet you lost

For a lifetime.