|
Little by little
roads eat away the hearts
of mountains.
Fires burn through, come
back in huckleberries,
trails close in August,
too many bears.
Too many bears, no following
avalanche chutes,
glacier lily, early spring.
Caribou in old growth
spruce,
lichen,
banks of snow and fog.
Bear tracks in the mud.
Treat each bear as the
last bear.
Each wolf as the last,
each caribou.
Each track as the last
track,
Gone spoor. Gone
scat.
There are no more deertrails,
no more flyways.
Treat each animal as
sacred,
each minute our last.
Ghost hooves. Ghost
skulls.
Death rattles and
dry bones.
Each bear walking alone
in warm night air.
---Gary Lawless---
|
