Last night I dreamt of the Hart
I brushed against his spirit long ago
But I remember it
The silvery wit, the smoky laugh and the glint of something precious inside
I pondered the fragments that fashioned him antler to hoof
All the tears and the delight
The strong and the weak
The light and the dark
The thousands of days that came before
Time flows on, but I did not forget
I see glimpses of him now and again
A figure in the distance
A tale to be read
The turn of a shoulder
A smile in the shadows
So in the darkness of my dream
When the leashes are off all our hounds
I tracked the stag
I knelt to study a marking
I peered through the emptiness of night
I saw the path twisted and broken
My broadheads and bodkins rattle gently in my saddle quiver
But he is safe
I think that if I were to finally fall down that well
If I came out the other side
If I tracked him through the green of the pine forests
The red canyons of false magic
And across the snows bound by the frosted sea
If I were to find him alone and unafraid
I think that it is only I whose heart would be pierced
-Jessie Henry
11/16