I wonder if we feel the same in a deer's eye

Are they awestruck by the surprise of noticing us as we do them?

Wonder in their belly like a creamy filling

But we've hurt them so much

Maybe we are the Freddie Kruegers of their night dreams

Maybe their DNA now sports flannel memories of lost loved ones

How are they so beautiful

Yet we snuff them out like a raggedy thing

How is it possible to shift from wonderer to hunter?

How is it possible to ignore warmth, curiosity, and innocence?

Maybe they can see death draw the veil behind our eyes

The thought scares me, too

But then, many of my kind have met their end in cool forests

Buried vertically in unwilling accomplice trees