If she had gotten too close
too fast
I’d probably have been worried
but since the deer was easing away from me
just as I sought to stretch towards her
I felt like the dance
was taking its expected form.

It is always this way
on Fire Island.
There have been deer here forever
and with no cars
or any predators (that I know of)
the herbivorous are inappropriately unskittish
and less prone to keep their distance.
Still
they are not quite so stupid
so unafraid of us monsters
as to feed from our hands
or let us get on top of them.

This one, though,
seemed like it might.

We circled
as such
with each revolution bringing us closer together.
I was amazed
a little giddy
and less and less worried she might have been crazy
suffering some undiscovered form
of mad deer disease
since there was no froth
no fire in her eyes
just a lack of fear
of a creature like me.
This was safe.
This could happen.

Eventually, it did.
She sniffed my hand
and touched my skin
and we became
for just an instant
one.

Then our distance increased
and returned to grazing
on grass and trees around us
and eventually
having received all the attention available
I left her
and took to shelter, wondering
if there was anything left
to do on this island.