Coyote

on a plateau of rock
beneath a wall of pine stretching for attention
on yielding hill
rising to misshapen clouds

aside a lake needing someone to jump in
splash about make noise in the
stillness of this early
morning sun not appearing
yet

his special spot where once he came as a pup
lost and afraid to challenge anyone
in the pack.

From early days his tail flowed as the wind
supple and bushy with youth –
now withered and gray
the markings of an older one in the
pack no longer able
to challenge the moon in a howl of delight.

Such times he had mate by his side
swift as a wolf he once met in the meadow
barely escaped with his throat intact
and now the journey ends
no longer a member of the pack -

he jumps into the water and begins to swim
across the small bay
perhaps another place awaits.

© Richard L. Provencher