To leave the window open,
to wake to the sound of the ocean,

here, there is peace. Even if
I still wake too early, still

can’t get back to sleep,
I can watch the sun rise,

sunrise a misnomer, really,
here the clouds just get brighter,

shades of gray between night
and day, and even before dawn

the spotlight on the neighbor’s
garage kept flashing on, motion

-sensored. Just after five I walked
down to the beach, discovered

why— A young buck stood
in the tall grass, startled

at sharing the morning, and not
afraid, or if he was afraid,

masking it well, with none
of the shell -shocked darting

of a roadside deer, no,
he had a velvety calm

and black eyes that met mine,
astonishingly close.

I had come over the hill just
as he raised his head, 

neither of us sure if we should be
concerned, him, five points

big enough, and having
the higher ground,

me, deciding if I was
threatened, or threatening

as his eyes tracked me
moving slowly by,

his nostrils opening wide
to smell me, my breath

turning to vapor in the cold
as we stood there quite a while,

two souls in the dreamlike
dawn, the only two awake

for miles, both making careful
passage through the tall, tall grass.