Wolf Story

The lady wolf found him there that night.
It was cold and dark,  the Human was
lonely and afraid.
She trusted him.
Took him to her den where she could warm him.
All that night he snuggled with her,
comforted by her thick warm fur and soft breath.
She healed his soul.
Healing herself by  the giving.
Then by the light of the rising sun,
She looked into his eyes.
How could she be so foolish?
So naïve?
The one she had nurtured,
cared for so openly.
This human never to be trusted ,
was not as she had seen him in the depth of night.
Stronger now he awoke.
Rising in the chilly air
he walked over to the door of the den.
He turned to face her.
She now saw in his eyes who he was,
and what must now befall her.
The price she must pay for a loving heart.
As he reached out the door , she looked at him,
never lowering her glare.
Not a flinch.
No escape.
For he was the hunter.
The one she had outsmarted all these years.
Now he had taken her, here in her den.
She was blinded by his needs.
She let him in- unquestioned.
Welcomed him into her home and heart.
A hunter…nothing more.
As he pulled the trigger
her resounding howl burst forth into the morning mist.
His bullet lodged deep into her chest.
Their stares never faltering as
she crumpled to the ground.
A mass of bloodied gray fur, steam rising from her hot blood
spilled needlessly.
The only sound passing her lips
was a weak dying
Why?
Lisa Ann Camara       January 4, 1996