Human Prey

I came in from the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains

Through blizzards and savage animals called humans

They tried to kill me for my food

And I outfoxed them all

Some froze to death trying to overcome me

In deep snow drifts

Others starved themselves trying to take my food

I crossed great empty deserted desert plains

And wandered across rivers big

Streams and lakes I crossed fluid

Some frozen hard

Wretched winds blew against my cold uncovered face

And would have gotten frostbite if it weren’t for my furs

Beaver, mink and fox

The wolf I wouldn’t kill, it became my only friend

Even from a distance he kept me company

As I’d sit around a 14,000 foot elevation fire

Smoking tobacco and drinking salvaged whiskey

From unattended camps

Staying far away from man’s cities and roads

As best as I could

The wolf would come and peer at me through the dark

As I warmed around my fire

His yellow eyes reflecting wanting a piece of me

Or my meal

Of killed grouse or deer

Which I’d share with him and his mate

The she wolf staying clear

The pair would follow me for miles

And then drop off when I’d leave the boundaries

Of their territories

To the eastern edge of the mighty Sierra Nevada

I came

Looked at it’s dry and deadly peaks

In the midst of August its killer heat

Formidable but I’d find a pass in dead of night

A speck in feared Man’s horizon

A bullet whizzed over my head

I jumped for cover in the brush

My heart beating fast and hard

Another hit a patch by my feet

I lost my care and jumped up and ran

Through the dark and cold altitude night

He or they pursued me up

Until I fell into a gulch

I waited and could hear the approach

Of this specter assassin of who knows where

I could smell his sweat as he came close

Hear his breathing near the edge

I grabbed my Wesson and aimed at him

With starlight and dim fingernail of moon

His shadow couldn’t catch my sight

Shot his head and shadow fell

I grabbed my self and picked me up

Crawled and trudged over there

Feeling in the dark with none else there

But the form, the corpse of him

Who would have killed me for who knows what

He lay there faceless, smelled of death

Didn’t bother trying who it was

Simply grabbed his rifle

And threw it down

The dark chasm of the gulch I’d been

Heard it tumble crack and drown

In the hole that saved me from

A stalker, human man

Hunting me like I were a dog

On and on through the night

I found my way far from that sight

My heart was beating from the pain

Of having killed one like me

Yet feeling glad I’d left his stain

There on the ridge to keep

His flesh for wolves and bones to bleach

Signpost scattered murderous remains

Under the heavens as the mark of Cain

And further proof of my plight of run

From enemy man whose ways I’ve spurned