Compass-needle vision couples
With a life-long vocabulary
Of direction-finding,

Laces together a deer,
Dead on the highway’s margin,
Roadkill dragged to the shoulder,

Its hide toughened
Like the weathered wooden siding
Of the abandoned catholic church

Whose slivered eaves
Provide an anchor hold
For swirling, five-pointed stars:

The brief shine
Of swallows.