Wolf

By John I. Blair

For years I’ve dreamed about you,
Thought about you, written
Letters, posted urgent pleas
For help to keep your kind alive

And roaming in the wild,
Uncounted miles from here,
Our cozy, sheltered home
Where wolves do not exist

Except as cute and fuzzy dolls
That sit on bookshelves,
Howling only when I squeeze
Their little bellies,

Hair-erecting records
That I play on Halloween
To frighten kids,
Poignant photographs on calendars.

I sometimes wonder (thinking
With a sector of my brain
That formed ten million years ago)
What feelings I might have

Alone in night-dark woods
With nothing but a pointed stick
If I heard your padded paws
Behind me on the path.

©2009 John I. Blair