MERCY

On a cold winter hill,
In a bone freezing chill
Stood two figures retiring and slight.
The sharp wind as blades
Cut the wild sage
And tortured this land of low light.

Their small stinging eyes
To darkened snow skies
Foretold of cast icy stares
And sights yet unseen
Of lavender green
In only half the sun’s glare.

Now lost souls in need,
Two small souls indeed,
Numbing in frigid remorse
And soon to be gone
To an angel’s song
Without any other recourse

Finally they fell, their faces in snow
And pale skins of chill replaced the pink glow.
Their breathing was shallow and painfully short
As they drifted in dreams they may not report.

A spot in the snow off to the hills rising
Bid welcome relief to snow’s hypnotizing.
It’s movement could barely be seen,
Still bobbing it came
Across the white plain
Up and over an icy ravine.

More spots in the snow,
Now all on the go,
Bobbing and snaking their way
Across the white plain
As a far distant train
Whose driver was drinking that day.

Perhaps eight or ten,
For moments on end,
They bobbed and jogged in the snow
Coming closer as time
Seemed to hasten the line
As longer it came to grow.

In each others trail,
In a ballet of tails,
In a rhythm as sure as the wind
Came the wolf pack
To make their attack
Without the hindrance of sin.

The children still there,
The life-ebbing pair,
Near death as they lay so still
Then the first wolf arrived
And stood and contrived,
Sizing up it’s very small kill.

The she-wolf then paused
And shook her gaunt jaws
To dislodge the ice and the snow
And watched for some time,
As if for a sign,
Then approached the two very slow.

She nuzzled an arm
with no alarm
And barked low in her throat
Then barked once again
And again and again
Then tugged at one’s plaid coat.

No movement was there
In the silent pair
But memories dimly came forth
Of the pups she had lost
To the deadly white frost
As happens up here in the north.

She glanced at the plain
And the dark crawling chain
As the next wolf had nearly arrived
And glanced at the two
And then she knew
There was no time left to decide.

They both met head-on
But it didn’t last long,
The intruder’s throat was slashed
Then thrown in the snow
Where the blood did flow
And it’s withering body lay smashed.

The next wolf that came,
Glowed in a flame
Of anger and violent torment.
He lunged at her there
And the fur did tear
But he fell with no chance to repent.

The next two, a pair,
Leapt through the air
And sent the she-wolf in a sprawl
But when the snow cleared
It was she who appeared
And the others who lost the brawl.

Then blood red skies
Filled her dark eyes
As the last of the pack arrived.
Her torn and bruised body
Now looked quite shoddy
As they Rolled, tumbled and dived.

Locked in combat
The last wolf spat
Blood from a half severed jaw
But lunged right back
Still on the attack
And ripped the she-wolf’s belly raw

White teeth a-shining
And animals whining
Filled the crisp, frozen air
And the bodies of those
Who fought as they chose
Died with just death to share.

At last all was still
With none left to kill,
No more fights of blood and pain.
The six wolves that died
Lay there side by side
Circled by red on the plain.

Only she moved a bit
In the blood and the spit.
The she-wolf though wounded and dying
Lay next to the twins
And sniffed at the winds
And shed a tear as if crying.

She licked one child’s face
Of any slight trace
Of dirt as a mother should
Then lay her head still
With a last chill,
And died as she knew she would.

Back to the plain
again like a train,
More forms moved in a dance
But slower this time
Came forward the line
As it made it’s steady advance.

Closer they came
But not quite the same
As they followed the trail they deplored
Then finally to see
On this frozen sea
A hope for the children restored.

A dog sled team
Broke the white sheen
Of the expansive snow and sky
And at the whip
Of this winter ship
Stood a Mounty, tall, red and spry.

He pulled to that spot
And squeezed off a shot
To signal the rest of the party
And in a short while
They came single file,
The brave, the rough and the hearty.

They treated the twins
Then surveyed the winds
And puzzled at what had transpired.
This strange scene in red,
Of battle and dread
In which all these wolves were mired.

“Well it sure stumps me!”
Remarked the mounty.
“Just how these wolves met their end.
Perhaps it was rabi?
We always got maybe’s Kaluch,
My good scout friend.

We may never know
How these wolves in the snow
Finally came to kill each other.
Well, lets get to moving,
The wind’s not improving,
They need to be home with their mother.”

A crack of his whip
And the sleek snow ship
Lurched in quick forward motion.
The children tucked in
Between some warm skins
Moved across the white frozen ocean.

It’s true no one knew
Except God and now you
That a mother had given her all
So that in her mind,
Though not of her kind
These children could live and grow tall

With all said and done
In this midnight sun
It seems that mercy was served
And those wolves that died
In fur blood and hide
All managed to keep natures word.

~Robert E Browne~

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