Deer in the Vineyard
Winter grapevines
hang on in vain,
held up by heavy twine.
Row after row
show no sign of fruit.
Suddenly,
without sound,
a young buck
bounds between rows,
a bounce and the flash
of a white tail.
Next year's fruit
will remind us
how the cycle of seasons
holds secrets
of making what seems to be barren
fertile and bursting with life.