Winter Crossing

I cannot capture in a photo
the doe crossing the river
at dusk—

one step,
another,

another, 

dark water touching her underside;
slender legs, 

delicate hoofs
finding the rocks and mud below.  

No, I cannot capture the doe,  

so instead I want to be
on the far side of the river
when she reaches it—

to stroke her soaked fur, the silk
of her ears, her exquisite
neck.  I want 

to warm-nuzzle her forehead,
my face
to her face, 

to know what she knows 

about river
about winter
and dusk—

what to take over, crossing;
what to leave behind.

Laura Apol is a poet and professor at Michigan State University.  An award-winning author of five full-length collections of poetry (most recently, “A Fine Yellow Dust,” published by the MSU Press in 2021), she served as the Lansing-area poet laureate from 2019 to 2021.