The Brothers (a sojourn to the reservation)

Its was Winter, it was snowing
our cave, draughty and cold
Outside a little warmer
As Lone, well kind of rolled
in the snow he loved that
But of course his fur got wet
With ice that froze
upon him
And really didn’t let
Him feel as comfortable
And the wind relentlessly
Blew us almost off that rock
so much uncertainty
We decided that together
we’d skirt across the crags
and back into the forest
Where the pines waved
like huge flags
It had been real hard going
Till we reached the forest dark
With such deep snow
It gets very slow
But now we thought we’d park
Ourselves out of the cutting
wind in a glade of Bracken where
We sheltered and dried off a bit
and watch out for traps placed there
In forests such as this one
the trappers set them and
many an animal meets its end
crushed by a thin steel band
and there they lay and pass away
in abject agony
these human souls have no controls
they trap us mercilessly

We carefully walked along the path
and out into the snow
down the great escarpment
onto the ledge below
the wind had dropped I’m pleased to say
And in sight the reservation
Where Lakota Jo and White Cloud lived
And some of the greatest Nation

That ever walked on God’s green land
Or hunted far and wide
Both of them were kind to us
and very soon inside
The teepee of Lakota Jo
and some meat beside his fire
We lay there in the moonlight
our spirits drifting higher
Knowing we would be,
safe
For respect was all around
and served to be the key
That kept us kind of allies
Both wild souls who ran
The gauntlet of the so called
New American

As soon as they broke through
onto our lands, the will was there
To depose us of authority
They were not about to share
They were thieves our loss of habitat
Was of their making, they
Also treated the wild men
almost the same way
So the wolf and the Lakota
were friends at least the two
Of us were friends both sensing
what each of us could do

As the eagle rose into the sky
and the foxes left their lair
We decided we would both go home
We’d been fed and watered,
where
affection, and respect was shared
meat and a great wood fire
a hint of smoke that can sometimes choke
When the various winds conspire

Back up the escarpment across the rocky
crags,
into the fields of freezing snow
Clearly we had bags
of time left before Dawn awoke
and raised the trappers sight
we were back inside our draughty cave
Before the morning’s light
fed into the trappers eyes
and sold them on the need
To get up and go out to find
the vanquished who might bleed

We wolves despise the trappers
cowards who set such things
that kill or maim our brethren
with cruelty that flings
Open the door where Satan enjoys
a morning thought
In the blood and snot of the innocent
This a vile blood sport.