Life Forfeited, Law Transgressed
Life forfeited, Law transgressed
Clear morn in which to go hunting today
Indian prepared , went with no long delay
Family of four was hungry with no food
he setting forth in a very anxious mood
Deep into the thickened woods he raced
seeking tracks before the wind erased
Venison was what he desperately sought
his traps were empty with nothing caught!
He was on his favorite hunting trail
thoughts of how he simply must not fail
A deer he across the way did soon spot
carefully he drew his arrow for a shot
Silently and quickly he took his aim
food, precious meat, this wild game
Raised bow with a very quick release
a clear miss, to his awestruck disbelief!
So angry about missing his only shot
no meat today in the empty family pot
Around the next bend he soon did meet
a wolf's rocky den at his weary feet
Peering into that den he clearly saw
a brown movement, a quick swiping paw
Next seeing two pups were quite dead
the last one big and clearly well fed!
The hunter mad in deep and saddened rage
the Great Spirit he offended and enraged
As he took hatchet to kill one lone wolf pup
he emptied mercy from his own sweet cup
Returning wolf pack came before he got away
circled the hunter in every escape pathway
Jaws wide with sharp teeth and wicked stares
the wolfs charged rapidly forward in pairs!
Swiftly biting as the hunter tried in vain
to knock each biting wolf off again and again
The wolf pack had its victim on the ground
right there his mangled body was later found
Indian hunter had transgressed Nature's law
killing a helpless wolf pup sealed his great fall
Mercy and hope had been righteously withdrawn
life forfeited , he never faced another dawn!
Robert Lindley , 06/26/1983
Found this in my second small journal , hidden
under a box of short stories I wrote back then.
Seems on the last few pages I wrote three poems.
This one was finished, the other two look to be
very close to being finished ...
I guess I could list this as a narrative or a rhyme.
Chose not to edit it any way because I signed it
and thus deemed it finished back then..
Copyright © Robert Lindley | Year Posted 2014
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