Deer on the Lawn

I was talking with my dottyr and mentioned the deer on my lawn, which prompted me to want to write a song about them (as I just really like the poetic phrase, “watching the deer on the lawn”); however, as I was watching them, I found two things:

• While I feel protective of the deer (even though they don’t need my protection), I don’t have a whole lot to say about them, or about deer as a species more generally; and
• I fell into a kind of reverie in which I was suddenly reminded of a woman whom I had loved over half a lifetime ago, but where we hit a sort of stumbling block (namely me expressing my “could-bes” about taking a break from my studies)… and when she pulled away (because it turned out that she had been thinking about taking her own break), I reacted to that cooling down with a strong feeling of retreat. By the time we had a chance to recover, she was already committed to moving very far away.

Now we evidently live on the same half of the same coast, and it might be nice to chat over coffee or something.

I am careful in this song about the sentiments expressed. I am equally careful not to mistake my cognitive model of someone for the person that/whom they actually are; that is to say, I don’t substitute my ymagined feelings and so forth onto them.

That makes “cherished daydream” one of the most important lyrics in the song.

And for those of you who are familiar with Citizen Cane, there’s a sort of an Easter egg because that movie deals rather directly with someone looking back over their life and exploring the what-ifs.

I had fun shifting up the structural consistency throughout the song, adding bridges and breaks.

I wanted the music to be very individual, essentially singer-songwriter style, and intimate with the mic, but having a soft and sweet rock balled flowing along underneath. I also wanted the song to be hopeful at the bookends and more aching in the middle, so I struck out for a medium tempo and a warm major chord and minor variations. I think that worked out well.

And yeah, I’m still on a legato cello kick.

[2026-05]

Lyrics

Dreaming in a balmy breeze

Toes grow roots in long green grass

Visions flowing over me

swaying slowly in my past...

    while charming the deer on the lawn.

Hearing bumble-buzzy bees

Nose new notes of sassafras

Senses smoothing over me

slowly swaying in my past...

    while drawing the deer on the lawn.

When out of nowhere

    you fill my heart

and I wonder why

    you got away.

Chance tossed

    love story bloomed

Star crossed

    horoscopes loomed

Fate lost

    destiny doomed

And next thing I knew

    you were gone.

Diving into memory trees

Rosebud-frosted snow-globe glass

Flashback flooding over me

willow weeping in my past...

    while warning the deer on the lawn.

Showing you my honest could-bes

Froze your feelings cold as brass

Reflex ruling over me

swiftly spooking in my past...

    white high-tailed like deer on the lawn.

Now out of somewhere

    you fill my heart

and I want to ask

    if you'll come stay.

Chance tossed

    love story bloomed

Star crossed

    purposes loomed

Fate lost

    destiny doomed

And next thing I wish

    you were here.

Healing here by slow degrees

Knows we flip the hourglass

Standing in the yard with me

cherished daydream from my past...

    while watching the deer on the lawn.