The Wake

Half by accident I hit a rabbit
Deep in the grey flesh of its thigh
With an arrow
It sat there still as if nothing had happened
Breathed a little
Its nose trembled a little too
Quiet as if in thought then it
Disappeared in a rustle of russetbrown brush
Between two oaktrees with flayed black bark

My brother said that it would crawl off to die
And I knew this as he said it
Might be killed by larger animals
Unseen
And might have a family or children to take care of
Because it was a large rabbit
Not a baby
And I stared a little while where it had been
Like staring at stars too many too bright too far
Away to see at once

And I had not been surprised
There was no blood no
Sound of flesh changing
The earth didn’t change
There was no sound of wind changing
Or leaves turning
In the air

I had not been surprised
When I heard something
Close
Something i heard something
Like a heart closed
But not a heart
Because even the heart makes a sound
When it closes
It is like the sound
Of eyelids closing.