An Omen of the Taste of Twilight

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December 8, 2018
~ First Place ~
Premiere Contest: No 1292
Sponsor: Brian Strand
~ Seventh Place ~
Premiere Contest: Favorite Free Verse
Sponsor: Chantelle Anne Cooke
~ Poem Of The Week ~
Week of December 16, 2018
Vanished
the wild magic of this place;
this wilderness I now roam alone
as its lifeblood seeps
into
Afterlife
..my mournful howls
across time and distance
go unanswered -
Oh, how I long to join again
in my brethren’s song..
fading sunlight falls in slivers
through boughs of evergreen needles
across timeworn trails I tread -
beaten by generational rhythms
of the steady, swift and sure
I want to run
but I keep my loping stride
for I will get there;
to the track
to the other side
when the twilight tastes
of blood
the train’s lonely wail
leans on sooty winds
heaving sighs of sad sentiments
as I make my way parallel to the parallel lines of track -
its smokey dirge
echoes laments
walled within the desolation of my soul -
this Trojan horse;
larger than any mighty prey
my brethren and I could ever take down -
smuggles pale warriors into my revered forest
on veins and arteries of iron
throbbing with an inhumane vengeance
..my mind wanders in the reckless wreckage of it all..
neath overhanging branches
where leftover oak leaves
rasp in stubborn cling
and flit like a flock of paper sparrows
I pass..
somewhere up there
above my rolling shoulders
where tips of praying branches
reach to pierce the soft belly of the other side
a widowed crow cries
black and forlorn..
I embody her solitude
for -
from my pack
I am the
last
of my kind —
despite my discipline
my tireless legs trot faster
a maroon sunset stretches with bloodlust across taut skies;
an omen of the taste of twilight -
my pace and my pulse quicken now
like the tribal drums
I used to know
I arrive
here where they gather
a track I can no longer follow - a track I need to cross;
..tales of stalking deer - trails traversed with my pack - thoughts - tears
my path ahead
what’s left behind
boundaries defended and boundaries bridged
human hatred for my kind..
all converge at this meeting place
amidst falling shadows of dimming light
emerge forerunners of freedom -
aged memories that dwell in the pocket of my being
well up in the stream of my noble bloodline -
primal chants
haunting from throats
both furred and smooth-skinned
resonate in reverie;
..millenniums of coexistence and native campfires..
forebears; both four-legged and two
vibrate the mystique of this moment -
its quivers
I sense in my whiskers
I see the invaders
through my grey-green eyes
mine; the final witness
to the decimation of my pack
and the territory of my ancestors
in the atmospheric chill
my panting vapor frames my thoughts
and instinct urges me forward
to the track
the sun is
dimmed
by my passion
and the moon
reflects
in my eyes
every hammering heartbeat
a stepping stone to the next moment
every muscle twitching
with trepidation - with anticipation
..Oh! how I long to join again
in my brethren’s song!..
long legs carry me lightly out onto the crossties
my soulful destination
where parallel universes collide -
..O Nemesis! lift me in my wish to inspirit cosmic dust..
my snarling form
reveals the wild nature of my fateful desire
I turn
to face them one last time -
muzzles flash with fire-breathing frenzy
splitting the air
with scents and sounds
in an orgy of gunpowder lust
spilling the taste
of wanton bloodthirst
into the ebb and flow of crimson twilight;
pale savages savagely ensure my unholy deliverance.
..my mournful howls
across time and distance
no longer
go
unanswered
as I cross over the gossamer track
of gentling night skies…
Copyright © Susan Ashley | Year Posted 2018
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