We have in hand
A precious coin, whose two
Sides understanding
May put together:
A jackal runs a deer
Which, caught in silver,
Begs, beseeches,
But is not freed nor spared
His savaging;
Which melts in fear
As if minted to symbolize
The face of terror …
On the other side
Of the coin the victim outstrips
Every living thing,
Leaves behind all
Connection: love, kin
In her crisis of running
Becoming as ruthless
A creature as any the wilderness
Has seen; so out
Of relation to all
But the tyranny of her fear …
Grieve for this runner
Who flees on both sides
Of how rare a coin, so
Piteously, so wildly!
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