The land shimmers in silver
running along your boundaries
barbed wire and splinters
I bled onto the ground

it was just enough to sow
new trees for their food
just enough to cause
lightheadedness and pause

shaggy from winter he left brown
pieces of himself all across these lines
a gateway was never needed
and he bled onto the ground

it was just enough to warn,
to teach his family
“jump a little higher than I did
my dears, jump straight for the moon”

I left thee Elk at dawn
my back slumped against the fence post
where he had awoken me
licking the salt from my toes.

**
This poem was inspired by Alexey Markovich's blog, The Ambiguity of Fences.  To submit a photograph, poem, a drawing or a painting of a fence to the blog, please visit:
http://bzebza.com/the-ambiguity-of-fences/