A year in the life of a baby moose

Jasper National Park
The Canadian Rockies
Named after Jasper Hawes
His trading post
10878 kilometres
The wildest of mountain parks
Which now does host

Many types of animals
From cougars and wolverines
Grizzlies, wolves and bears and foxes
And substantially more
Beautiful big eagles
And all are in the raw

To be a moose the biggest
Of the deers upon this earth
Up to a thousand pounds in weight
With really so much worth
Each animal residing is valuable
And they
Add to the environment
In their natural creative way

It is a rugged area
Tall straight trees that grow
Together roots all hugging
Often hit by snow
Its a magickal picture post card place
A wilderness to where
Watching a moose and her calf live
Out their lives now I share

There are frantic climbing mists
That hang and descend from the sky
Glaciers of vivid blue and white
From ice fields rather high
Wondrous lakes and waterfalls
And great masses of snow
Its when the moose find difficulty
For not many plants then grow

Twig ends bark and conifers
A great deal of them they
Need from 15 to 50 kilos
Every single day
That calls for hours of foraging
Up to ten miles a day
You can realise how exhausted
They get and how they pay

Attention to their whereabouts
In July when snows are gone
They are competant nutritionists
And ofcourse walk on and on
They love the lakes
Where evolution has given them
A need
To dive into the depths and eat
The rich nutritional weed

A favourite yellow lily
And horsetails and bladderworts
All are high in sodium
Clearly these true thoughts
Of building up their minerals
Is always on their mind
They can close their nostrils and dive
Down deep
Those precious weeds to find

A mother loves her baby
And nurtures it all day
It will be with her each hour
And for a year may stay
Learning all the magick
The plant life and much more
How to stay away from wolves and bears
And stay in awe

Of all of mothers knowledge
There is so much to learn
Which plants give the best return
For effort, to discern
She will follow her mother
And absorb saliva she
Passes on her bacteria
To keep her stay healthy

They have big ears to hear with
And camouflage as well
That hides them very effectively
Its like a magic spell
In all that heavy undergrowth
The colours changing fast
Everything feels connected
And feels made to last

Following this family
One can feel the need
Every hour sees a learning curve
For babies must succeed
They have to watch their mother
They have stay close and
Learn to be adaptable
To the ever changing land

With packs of wolves
Out hunting
And with other predators too
In deep snow it gets tiring
Its what they all now do
Watch out for the aggressive Bulls
Who come to make a point
1200 pounds of muscle
And their spirit to annoint

Bulls when after females
Have a curiously wild sound
They do get quite frustrated
They are pound for pound
Much heavier than the females
And can be aggressive too
And if there is a calf around
One swipe and toodle loo

Often moose will come onto the road
And lick parked cars
After the sodium that they eneed
To face up to the stars
It can be an intense period
As the males are challenged by
Their massive sexual urges
Which is iften why

The females stay away from them
Try to compensate
Forage its a constant need
To try to fill their plate
When they are on heat
They will decide the male they want around
Noticing their huge racks
And their scent and sound

After mating what you find
Is their calf will have to go
She will not be as loving
Infact will tey to show
Another side of her to calves
Let them actually know
THat calfdom yes its over
And therefore they must go

This is life in Jasper
Their child must walk away
No more milk or knowledge
On their own from today
And so they take their presence
And wander off to find
A new path of existence
Using their own mind

They are part of the order
Of things the harmony
They must take thec initiative
In the forefront they must be
Harping on their memories
And gathering anew
Fellowship and learning
In everything they do

Understanding the seasons
The unfathomable where they
Know where to find the freshest shoots
In the cool of the day
Where they do feel threatened
In the gloaming of each day
And sometimes in the witching hour
When they will maybe lay

Noticing the howling
And the hot breaths on the ear
The timber wolves a singing out
Their voices loud and clear
This a time to slink into the tall grass
And to be
Going back to basics
As they did in infancy