The Hunter and the Wolf

Jacqueline Touzeau

I remember, long ago it was, the first time I met the hunter, 
And fully I remember his rifle and his proud smile
Because he was the conqueror of all creatures wild,
And the gash upon his thigh would not change his spirit,
For he had killed the wolf, the wolf that my sister and I knew well,
And much as she grieved for the beast, so I equally mourned the loss of the man.

While his wounds healed, in our cabin lived the strange man,
And eagerly he told my sister that in all aspects of life 
     he was a hunter-
The forest was like a city, the trees like skyscrapers, 
     and both he knew well.
And thus he spoke to my sister, with his words, his stories, 
     entreating her to smile,
But the lost wolf would not let her alone, 
     and every day she thought of his spirit,
Begging him to turn out the hunter, 
     but I could not return him to the wild.

For, as my sister was of the wild, so he sought to destroy the wild, 
And I sought to preserve it, by saving the man,
And though we lost the wolf, so remained his spirit, 
As a constant reminder of the death brought by the hunter,  
And in agony, my sister left he and I, without a smile,
Descending into the depths of the nurturing, 
     healing forest she knew so well.
So, I waited for her return, though I knew her ways very well,
Knowing that, until her enemy had left, 
     she would not return from the wild.
He told me that she would return, but I saw his futile smile.
I though then that perhaps he would again become a man,
For the chamber within his chest had grown larger than 
     the bullet of a hunter,
And I would see him speak as if he had a spirit.

I reformed him because I knew within him was a long dormant spirit,
And I reformed him because I loved him, loved him too well,
Though I should have hated him because he was a hunter,
And I was everything a hunter desired destroyed-I was of the wild,
But why hate him when he had such potential to be a man?
And when I gazed upon his body, I could not refrain my smile.

Yet, I endeavored to hide from him my smile,
Because I never elicited any fire within his spirit, 
Which yearned for my sister, so into the forest went the man,
Drinking the water, treading the soil my sister knew well.
But he, alas, did not know the ways of the wild,
And the wolf spirit was avenged and destroyed was the hunter.

I could not destroy the hunter and save the man,
And I would not smile when my sister returned home and well
For she became the wild, destroying one to avenge a spirit.