Stag’s Reprieve
- Stag’s Reprieve
Yet may I by no meanes my weried mynde Drawe from the Diere . . .
—sir thomas wyatt
I watched a stag from my stand in a maple follow the scent of a hind in heat on her run below. Why shoot? I wondered, despite my need to prepare for winter this far from town. He was a god who spoke to me: Climb downand find your love, he sang. Bequeath your skin like a quiltto the one who waits for you. I’ll come again when you awakein mid-December. Shoot methen with one true arrow when youhave loved, and I will feed two others. [End Page 679]
chard deniord is the Vermont poet laureate and author of six books of poetry, most recently Interstate and The Double Truth. He teaches English and creative writing at Providence College, where he is a professor. His book of interviews with contemporary American poets, I Would Lie to You If I Could, is forthcoming from the University of Pittsburgh Press. He lives in Westminster West, Vermont, with his wife, Liz.
