Deer in the Meadow

Deer in the meadow
Frost-hooves folded
‘Neath lean torsos,
Is the sleep serene?
 
And does the taut-strung
Muscle stay, or flee
The enmity that rustles
Like a fawn-blink in the Spring?
 
If a stranger wandered
Aimlessly into your ranks,
Would you be bothered by
The foreign fur against your flanks?
 
Deer in the meadow
Crouched in clover,
Do you sleep for long enough
To warm the ground?
 
And if he sensed your
Strength in numbers,
Would you linger there
Until he could be found?
 
Rather than run away,
Would you somehow know instead
That seven years of wisdom
Had led him like a candle to your bed?