—for Katie

In the night I woke with a start and could not fall back asleep. I thought I heard a woman screaming. Her labored cries pierced the night like starlight, contracting the sky between us. In the morning I found the elk calf hidden in the sage, oversized ears alert, eyes laden with the effort of first life. She nestled into trustful sleep to await her mother’s return, while needle-and-thread grass wove her blanket, purple larkspur gathered her pillow, violet-green swallows soared, and bluebirds sang a morning lullaby

one thousand sleepless
nights on earth: what I would give
to be held like this

Elizabeth Domenech is a writer, naturalist, and advocate for conservation and wildness. Her writing can be found published or forthcoming in Montana Naturalist, Amethyst Review, and Edible Bozeman. She lives in Bozeman, Montana.