WOLF HOWLS AND WARRIOR HEARTS

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You have faded

from sight and from sound.

But your wolf howl

has come to live

in my heart.

A warrior woman

is stirring there,

for something is wrong.

Something is wrong

in the land,

that we are trying

to understand.

I bid her:

Speak.

Speak,

for Mother Earth

is dying.

Speak,

for all the whales

are crying.

Speak

for ravaged hillsides

which can

no longer grow.

Speak

to save

the earth.

It is

the only world

we know.

She tells me

warrior hearts are on the rise.

She says beyond the blood

and grief and guns,

we must be calm, and just,

and wise.

Since you're gone,

wolf howls have come

to live in my heart,

and a warrior woman

is stirring there,

for something is wrong.

Something is wrong,

ever since you've been

gone.

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A poem from 2016, my friends. This morning on the news, scientists are concerned that on the West Coast of Vancouver Island, there are now only 78 orcas, not enough to sustain the population. Warming seas, loss of habitat and reduced salmon stocks are listed as the main problems. Salmon comprises most of the orca diet, and fish stocks have been reduced in recent years from over-fishing, and pollution, especially from fish farms.

Forest fires are burning, whales and wolves are hungry, all is not well in the land. What will it take for us to learn to live with respect for other species - and each other?