A pale-coloured reindeer chooses you,

to link its fate with yours.  It may take a death

from you. It circles round before laying itself down

in the snowfall of your dreams,

you know how far away it is by the waning of the moon.

In the dark you smell it, hear the grunting

and clicks of its feet as it rises

to leave you

with bruises where someone has beaten it,

or with the crunch of lichen in your teeth. 

Rebecca Gethin

Note:

Kujjai is the word for a reindeer that through a ritual becomes your spirit animal.