getting darker earlier now

Today I saw a three-legged deer on my way to taiko class. It was already getting dark in the late afternoon when I was bicycling, bicycling and making up songs as I rode. She was standing quietly under a yellow-leafed tree, this deer who walked gracefully on three. I saw that her fourth leg, which resembled a curled tree branch, was tucked high beneath her chest. After a few moments, a deer with antlers appeared behind her and they walked across the street to where the raspberry bushes edge a wide field of grass.

Don doku don don.

dear deer

I saw deer in the darkness tonight as I came to the part of the hill where I hop off my bike. Three of them. I could see their long ears parallel to the ground as they grazed alongside the houses on the hill. I was still repeating don doku don doku, kara kara kara kara from taiko class, exhilarated from the rhythms and the bicycle ride home.