He carries the sun between his antlers.
No matter his mood, he carries the sun.
Whether he is tender to his own
in their moments of birth and death
or leading astray the trespasser
into the darkness of the oldest wood,
he, the Forest God, is the light on earth.
He comes from the world of light
and remembers it. He dances still
in that world, even as his hooves
break the crust of snow or leave prints
on fragrant mud. We who have left
that world of light have lost our knowledge
that light is not merely kindness; it is
truth, and truth gazes on us, through us,
as steadily and impartially as
the Forest God, the sun between his antlers.