Deer Crossing

I've seen the signs- yellow, diamond-shaped with the lettering in black a warning- deer crossing. And the depiction of an antlered buck leaping, it seems and I've seen the deer- the pronghorn of the prairies Wyoming and Idaho Montana too- the mule deer in forests of fir midst the West's Ponderosa Pine and silvery Spruce. And whitetail, in deciduous woods- the Smokies and Blue ridge and I've watched the graceful does with their speckled fawns -those shy Bambis and how some, the fleet of foot, the fast escape- survive another day but there are those that freeze wide-eyed with fear- the proverbial deer in headlights. And I've also seen glassy-eyed carcasses stiff and swollen a feast for flies- carrion ripped at by cawing crows.