An Omen Of The Taste Of Twilight

Vanished is 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 rustle in a clinging stubbornness and flit like a flock of paper sparrows I pass.. somewhere up there above my rolling shoulders where reaching tips of praying branches pierce the softness 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 now - what’s left behind - boundaries kept and boundaries to bridge.. human hatred all converge at this meeting place amidst falling shadows of dimming light are forerunners of freedom - aged memories that dwell in the pocket of my being now well in the stream of my noble bloodline - primal chants haunting from throats both furred and smooth-skinned resonate in reverie; .. millenniums of coexistence and ancient 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 to 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… Susan Ashley December 8, 2018 ~ Second Place ~ Contest: Your Personal Perfect Poem Sponsor: Brian Strand ~ Seventh Place ~ Premiere Contest: Favorite Free Verse Sponsor: Chantelle Anne Cooke ~ Poem Of The Week ~ Week of December 16, 2018