I love the way the night comes on slowly

The deer are already adjusted to it … they have the forest in their bodies … we were coming home from a long walk at dusk … me and the dog … i let her loose, she was eager to be off the leash … in only a moment, she was away, galloping … i knew after the deer, browsing in the yard … oh no, i thought, how will they navigate the brush and the low trees of the forest, in the dark like this … then i knew, i knew with my body, the long muscles, the slowly darkening eyes of my skin, waking as the sun dies … the cold on my hard neck, walking … they have the forest in their bodies … it’s no thing for them … scaling the uphill driveway back to the house, i called the dog … i want to keep this, i thought … this slow moving with a dark that comes on, plotting a constellation of invisible knowing throughout my body … like a map to some soul, long hidden in the stark daylight of screens … i want to keep this … i want to keep this …