She-Wolf

One of June's Recollections; 2009.

No warmth from the edge
Of where everything must go
Where all time will unfold

No brighter was the sun
Across the unseen line
The place where we all must go
When it is our time
Our time to go

I begged her not to leave my side
I did not want to watch
The life slowly go from her eyes
I stroked my hand gently down her cheek
Across the grayed muzzle
So many times I'd kissed good-night
So many times I'd wished to speak
But she just smiled up at me
With her eyes
Draining of sight

Why must all things go the route
Of where none but ghosts may follow?
How I wished to depart from these lands
Just so that I could stand beside her
If I could... these hands...
I would tear time in three...
I would... just to be with her...

No sounds from the pass
Of where she was to go
Where she showed no fear
No loathing toward the weary road
No darker was the sky at night
Across the unseen line
The place where we all must go
When it is our time
Our time to go

I was on my knees
No greater sorrow had I known
In this world, my land; my home
I watched her leave; she had to go
Even as I crawled to follow...
I could not move... .. .

Through an over-shoulder cast glance
Her words pierced the heart in me
And I could only stare
As she left me there
The grief
The guilt
It did not abate
And her words were all I had to ease the pain:

"Do not despair. You may not follow me here.
Know that time takes care of all things. Please.
Do not root yourself in the fields of burden.
Though the cycle of life may in turn bring death;
It is the cycle of death that once more brings life.
So take to your feet my friend, my brother; my love.
We'll meet again on the crossing paths, soon as time
decides your fate within its twisting hands. Be well.
Strong. And do not follow before time beckons you to
come."

And so she did leave me there
Dispersed in to the spirits arms
And so I took her words and left
Her body to the Earth I let:

Meat and flesh to those I still met
Bones to the soil to ever-rest
Two claws, two fangs around my neck
And her fur unto my back -

I will walk til I have no breath
Til my legs cannot stand and my sight bereft
I will go on til fire no longer warms
And my bones greet the cold with waning scorn
Til the call of time whispers through the trees
Upon the winds weaving down through canopies
To my ears alone; that call...

Then I shall walk the path
The well worn route where all must go
When it is my time to go