The Deer
© R. Malcolm Brown, Jr.

Hello my dear deer

Not breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast with you deer

You will come to eat

When I throw the corn to you

A knock of the can

Is a loud signal

You can hear from a distance

Rush rush you come here

As you approach near

Suddenly your tails do wag

You are so afraid

Yet the great hunger

Attracts you to this breakfast

Stare into my soul

With those big, brown eyes

Ears forward, that long, long stare

Patiently waiting

One of you, crippled

An incapacitated

Front left leg, with pain

Yet daily you come

For a morsel of gold corn

Sustenance you need

It is now finished

The handsome meal of gold corn

Onward morning hail

Into the thick trees

You had breakfast at my home

Return to feast soon!

June 2, 1994

The author is indeed, lucky to live only 15 minutes from work at The University of Texas at Austin, yet in his yard come wild deer to feed. Obviously, corn has brought these animals closer to domestication. Over the past 7 years, the author and his family have truly enjoyed studying and meeting these graceful animals as they come to feed. Their behavior patterns and personalities are thoroughly expressed, and from the kitchen windows, the deer can be studied in great detail. When visitors to the lab stay in the author's home, they are never bored watching the feeding unfold during breakfast.