Mourning doves coo to each other and young hawks circle the sky
flight patterns dancing overhead
rays of sun hit the meadows edge
two broad canine heads boast crowns of wild sunflowers and butterfly weed
they munch grass like goats in the warmth of the afternoon
Althea’s lips form an O as she sucks up fallen chokecherries
Noble’s strong jaws crunch cracking meat from acorn shells
streamside their patient tongues lap between frogs and minnows, among the algae
full bellies lull them to sleep in the big blue stems of grass
under the shaggy bark of the hickory sits their transcendent queen in half lotus

unaware that from the shade of the forest
a stag, with twelve points to be made is watching
he silently accosts her meditation, mashes his deer lips to hers,
sucking the ujjayi breath from her mouth, hooves like stones pin her gyan hands
hornets swarm from their nearby hole, stinging protest
and Althea & Noble hear nothing through their dog dreams, kicking and whining in the weeds
hidden by stalks of mullein, the stag is sated
he wrests away her hawthorn ring and the spellbound queen sinks into the deepest sleep
nine months later, baby buckthorn penetrates a frosty ground
beneath the hickory, a single story is unbound