Warm Heart Warm Hands

Warm Heart Warm Hands Evening fell with blizzard snow along the lake It had turned to a thick smooth sheet of ice Shades of gray black set in with the twilight Ghost images of swirling snow Changing forms and shapes over the frozen surface Vanished and came to life again as I approached I have been lost for hours walking aimlessly in the shadows Of tall pines and blinding drifts To emerge from there to here, no hope in sight Then, through the obstructing snow, danger approached A large gray wolf moved with conviction in my direction In erratic movements left and right it stalked Trying to hide between each snowflake to attack Sizing me up as a meal or snack The beast launched itself at me Hysterical red eyes, dagger large fierce teeth Demon growls exploded from deep within the beast Sounding from a long history of savage lineage To intimidate and frighten me As it lunged full force to seize my neck The long gun was at the ready Fingers nearly frozen to the trigger I fired the death shot to the brain The sound roared through the valley Quickly, I drew my hunting knife Slit its belly clean open Plunged both my frozen hands into the beast To feel the hot wet flesh and organs of the creature Blood and heart stopped pulsing but served their purpose I could feel tingling in my fingers, so Frost bite had been averted I stayed the night side by side with the animal Warm heart warm hands till morn Sun burnt open on a new day And with it this spectacle Blood and guts Some surreal survival As I wrapped my bloodied hands in the green scarf Marched in the direction of a glow Coming over a snow covered landscape Altered by the drifts Still lost with a long way to go