Deer in the Vineyard

Winter grapevines

hang on in vain,

held up by heavy twine.

Row after row

show no sign of fruit.

Suddenly,

without sound,

a young buck

bounds between rows,

a bounce and the flash

of a white tail.

Next year's fruit

will remind us

how the cycle of seasons

holds secrets

of making what seems to be barren

fertile and bursting with life.