Yellow Eyes
by Joan L. Van Vels

We've roamed the wild country
My beautiful yellow eyes,
Side by side we've hunted
Shadows dancing on northern skies.

There have been times of plenty
We were content and serene,
Peacefully sleeping
Dangers few and far between.

We've also known much hunger
Ribs protruding from each side,
Mournfully we howled
When our starving cubs had died.

And then there was our first winter
Romping thru the glistening snow,
Tasting each crystal snowflake
Falling gently to and fro.

Ah my dear, sweet yellow eyes
I've known no greater love,
Without you, I am nothing
Our wild souls are one.

And now you lay there dying
Steel jaws upon your frame,
Life's blood slowly seeping
I whimper your sweet name.

Helpless, I watch you struggle
Chest heaving with labored breath,
Steel jaws clenching tighter
Winds whisper the song of death.

The blood has now stopped flowing
I know the time is near,
And you will forever leave me
My love, my life, my dear.

And now my world is silent
Your struggles now have ceased,
I lay my head upon you
And know you are at peace.

Perhaps your soul has lifted
To skies where eagles soar,
And there you'll greet your brothers
To run with them forever more.

And someday I shall find you
In the heaven's so far above,
And when our wild soul's unite
There'll be no greater love.

---

SILENT PAWS
by Gerri K. McCann

Silent paws trotting
on a well beaten trail,
alone in the wilderness,
so young and so frail.

Little yips go unanswered,
the moon is now his guide,
looking for ones just like him,
or have all of them just died?

He sniffs the dampened ground
and senses man everywhere,
the silence is deafening
no howls in the air.

Oh why did he venture
so far from his den,
while his pack fell silent
at the hands of men?

His stomach is growling
but the hunger he’ll endure,
his pack family is out there
it’s their blood he smells for sure.

He stops in his tracks
and raises his head up high,
the terror overwhelms him
as he lets out another cry.

But still there’s no answer
he can’t understand why,
he’ll follow their trail
or he surely will die.

For days now he’s traveled
his spirit and body gone weak,
he lies down in white clover
no more energy left to speak.

Soon the soul hovers
over this tiny, frail pup,
whose future now will be guarded
as his soul travels up.

What right does man have
to take life from a living thing,
that has no way to voice its defense
against a human being?

The wolf is a symbol,
a brother, a friend.
it’s time now for action
before his existence comes to an end.

---

I AM THE WOLF

I am the wolf, a loner at heart.
You are the human, and will rarely if ever see me.
I roam the wilderness forests and
mountains of this earth that we share.

I mate for survival, as you do
and I help my mate raise our pups in the warmth of our den,
nurturing and watching them grow and play,
as you do with your human young.

We run as a pack family,
and our members are as close as those in yours.
When a member is lost, we grieve, but go on,
just as you do.

When I am hungry, I must hunt for myself and my family,
for that is all I know.
There are no stores to cater to my every need.

Some of you have said that I am a killer,
a cold-blooded hunter of death,
but when I kill, it is to feed my family,
and I only take the old, sick, and weak,
who will die regardless.

I don't kill to hang heads for trophies on my walls,
as you do.
Now I am the hunted, by you.

You are afraid of me, because you don't understand me.
You think I am taking from your herds of plenty,
which you advertise to
big game hunters for their tourist dollars.

Yes, you are afraid of me, but I can't hurt you.
You are the one with the power to destroy my kind.

You set your traps to torture me,
and send your helicopters to kill me from the air.
I cannot fight you, for that is not my way
That is yours.

I only want my freedom
to run, live, and sing to the moon.

I will share this earth with you in peace
as long as you let me.

I am the Wolf