WOLF'S DIARY


by the pain i felt
i knew this wound was real

all fever bullet swift
of
maddening aim
it lodged
my heart

all ripe with
wildness-youth

to put me
forever
beneath the tons
of snow
i once leapt across
my mate behind me

how we thought
we could uncover
the hunter's traps
with our nostrils
and not get hurt

we were young
and cubless
enjoying our freedom
	boundless and uninhibited

as now she weeps
over me

not understanding
the arrow of hate
that pierces

only that i'm motionless
and not responding
to her nudgings
	and melancholy lament

she cries
that we won
the battle of
winter's frost

but lost to something
	so much colder

it cut me down
in the wildness of my youth
i sunk in my weakness
	beside our den   
spilling the last of my life in a 
	frenzied circle, 

and my mate was the last
thing I saw
when my eyes
closed out this Earth

I heard her poignant howl
searching the blustering wind
for my lingering scent
partially covered now in 
	new fallen snow

and she could not hear what I wept back
from the Spirit World
all that I could not answer
		for her

yet knowing one day
she will join me
in this heavenly romp

my blood spilled
not for a cause

she licks with stabbing grief
the remains of me

so in the Artic stillness, I died
never to see
nor know of
the unborn cubs inside her

only knowing one day
they will join me
in this heavenly romp with her

but for now she
must teach them
when they're born

to live to the fullest
their wildness-youth

and know that their
father would have
been proud

of their stature and defiance - -

taste the snow
my little ones,

know that I was there
deep inside the heart of your mother

so a little piece of me
is left behind for you to see
		in her

how i wish i could
lick you
and chase you

	in your wildness-youth

what can i tell you
keep safe
through your journey

and when death finally
claims your body
and your spirit is freed,

fear not,
for we join
forever then,
all of us,
		in our wildness-youth