squirrels and deer and death

i have spent much time debating what animal is my totem. though i wish i could say with confidence that it is the all-mighty lion, i must indeed confess that it seems to be shared by two much less powerful beasts: deer and squirrel. though i figure we're only supposed to have one, i guess if i intend to actually live to 134, two sounds fair...and one of them is so little. so then, what does it mean when you're riding up the last of the hills and on the roadside to your left you see a dead squirrel? you imagine him running and playing in the trees...you imagine him nearly falling on your head, landing and darting off into the juniper. as you round another turn, 40 yards up the road, you are thinking about deer and squirrels, and why them. you again crook your head to the right and see a dead deer lying in the dirt. mangled and stiff. flies about. it makes you sad to see these things. your heart aches for so much. what is it with us people and our cars? darting around all over the place in a flurry of steel. perhaps they were trying to tell me something. perhaps they were saying "jefferson be still, be still."

Posted by jeff at May 17, 2003 11:54 PM

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