Originally written: January 27th, 2019

I’ve gone to church, but I am not religious. Yet religion was with me when, 

as a familiar sermon filled my ears—clapped, in time with my steps 

I turned a corner on my way to first day at night and met the 

deer’s eyes. The priest’s voice died down, his warning 

true. Its presence stood on the stairs somewhere 

and I knew my worth, so I took my leave. 

This poem was inspired by two main things. First, our class had been assigned to write poetry relating to music in some fashion, and second, I really did come across a group of deer when walking to the library for my night shift. At the time it was lightly sprinkling, the path was dark, and Hozier’s In The Woods Somewhere was playing on my iPod, making the whole thing a pretty Gothic experience.