White Wolf steps into a trap and is caught.
Thrashing, in terror, she hears the hunter
crashing through the trees.
She tries to hide, caught, no escape.
Slowly, eyes fixed on him, she sits.
She raises her snout and howls
a sorrowful long howl,
a goodbye to the life she has loved,
so fraught with peril
because of his kind.
She is shimmering, beautiful.
He can see her breath in the cold air.
He hesitates. But then,
"I shot her anyway," he tells
the wolf researcher,
whose heart sinks in the telling,
as my hope sinks, in the reading:
another beautiful life, snuffed out
without reason.
I am reading "Wolf Spirit" by Gudrun Pfluger, about her research work among the wolves of western Canada.
This must be a most soul-destroying moment for anyone who works to preserve wildlife. It makes me very sad to think of the loss.
ReplyDeleteDid they but realise, it also destroys the soul of the killer.
DeleteHaven't we learned anything, since Farley Mowat's book, "Never Cry Wolf", and the work, he did, in the Arctic.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me so sad to read, the way we consistently insist being hunters... all over the world we feel threatened by beauty.
ReplyDeleteSad and soulfully written Sherry
ReplyDeleteMuch love...
So, sad! It hurts to imagine~ Awareness should help! Thank you, Sherry for being you~
ReplyDeleteHeart-rending.
ReplyDeleteI think the wolf must be your totem animal. Mine is crow.
ReplyDeleteLascaux tells us that the hunter is in immortal bondage to his prey; he becomes his own snow.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fascinating book, Sherry.
ReplyDeleteOne that is meant for you as well.
This is so sad. Sad for the wolf, but especially sad for our race Sherry. Why oh why?
ReplyDelete