(Rein) Deer Epiphany
(a
poem for Robby Kleppel)
In the little remnant woods behind my daughter’s house,
A buck deer appears in the deep snow, eating the brambles or
small trees
In this hungry winter.
Twenty feet behind, a doe reclines in the snow,
Munching on twigs.
I say, “Look at the deer, Robby!”
My grandson Robby, just turned four, sees them.
He says, “They’re reindeer. They’re Santa’s.”
Then he adds, as simply and straightforwardly as
One plus one equals two—
“They can fly.”
I don’t know what to say next.
Then something startles the deer,
And they’re up, just like that, and
Flying over the
neighbor’s five-feet tall fence.
Bob Coughlin
Feast of the
Epiphany, 2018
Note: The word “epiphany” can mean “manifestation;
sudden appearance; sudden insight.”
