Dear, my Deer in the headlights
startled by this deep desire…
Did my fire frighten you away
into thick forests where you stay
& hide your gentle light from my sight?

I am no mountain cougar
crouching in your tracks to pounce
& wreck your regal gait.

I am the tracks you left behind.
I am the flower in the wood.
I am the cloud drifting above.
I am the falling drops of rain,
tears shed for your lost love.
I am the babbling brook beckoning you:
Come, rest & drink.

Yet here,
rushing to the brink of a crashing waterfall
fallen over
(over you)
logic buried in the wild churning of this boiling need
I fear:

Do my whirling rapids ***** your prancing hooves?
Would you dash back to a forest cabin
where hunter hangs the most prized rack--
branches of a love once wild & free,
now tethered to a wall, a long forgotten trophy?

Do your startled nerves seek an escape
from the vision of my river rapids
falling, crashing, diving into your bedazzling eyes?
Ought I to withdraw that you might find a calm?
Might you eventually retrace those wary steps
back to my thirsty banks?

I wait
However long it takes,
I pause; I wait.

may your caution find its rest
may your heart soften a nest
may your wandering pause to bless
my waiting hungry days
with the trust of your warm rays.

in my waiting may these roiling surging waters of emotion
subside into a calm,
find stillness, peace
provide a placid place
for rest