Deer Testament
poem
A herd of midnight deer surrounded our mother and father's graves. No, that's not true. It was my sisters, brothers, and I who surrounded our mother and father's graves. We buried our parents eight and twenty years ago but our grief remains so near. As we stood at their gravesite, a terrifying light veered toward us from the dark. Our eyes snapped open but our limbs glaciered with fear. My sisters, brothers, and I were as frightened as deer.
"glaciered". I don't tend to like nouns turned into verbs, but this is perfect
Yes--"glaciered with fear"--reminds me of Dickinson's "zero at the bone" when suddenly coming upon a snake as so often is the case when one encounters a snake).