Soft, stuttered hoofsteps

Through the wood

Illuminate her passing, time is

Frozen.

Her gaze catches motion,

My movement frightens her

Into statue stillness. She is

Frozen.

The wide, brown eyes,

Rich as the living earth,

Dewy bright,

Frozen

On mine. As a single strand

Of grass bends to allow a raindrop

Kiss the soil, I extend a careful hand.

Frozen.

Her dappled brown fur is

Smooth under the broken patches of sunlight

The breeze tugs at her, still she is

Frozen.

We are, for a moment, the only two

Beings in the grove. Then

She leaps off, and I am left in awe.

Frozen.