TRACKING

This year I will make a dress
imprinted with the tracks
of deer.  It is a fitting place
for tracks, a safe place.
You can spend your evenings
and weekends with your stalking cap
and glass, follow them
along my collar, down my back,
around my waist.  You can
circle a curve of breast
to spiral
down an arm, making notes,
finding patterns, satisfying
your Holmesian appetite
for orderly procedure.
And one day I will pin it
to my dressmaker's form
and leave.
You can pursue the alluring trail
while the deer and I
roam our wild and secret places
and leave no tracks.

			Lucille Murphy