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“Night, the beloved.
Night, when words fade,
And things come alive.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


I now seem to spend a lot of my time
Searching for abandoned canines at night
A woman dumped her four dogs in the woods
One is still out here, a pet, now filled with fright

And as I sadly wander through the woods in the dark
I always marvel at the variety of nocturnal life that I see
I’ve come across families of raccoons, opossums, and deer
I’ve also encountered weasels, red foxes, and many a coyote

The other night, I came upon a newly born pup, crying in the dark
And although a member of the canine family, this pup was born wild
It too, was now frightened and all alone, as the abandoned dog now was
I stood transfixed, feeling sorry for it, wondering what to do, for quite awhile

I wondered if its mother had been killed, or if it had wandered away from its family
I wondered if I took it in, could I raise it to be a house pet, like my other canines were
But eventually, I heard distant huffing* noises far off in the wood, and this pup did too
Then I spotted its mother, the pup raced to her, and they were soon both just a distant blur

I wished them well as they vanished into the dark night, and marveled at their ability to survive
Coyotes once only roamed the western half of the United States because wolves were dominant
But we human beings now seem to hate sharing any bit of this planet with other predators today
Although once protected, wolves are now being hunted down, and will very soon become extinct

And as I now resumed my search for the poor dog that was abandoned in these deep dark woods
I very sadly wondered why mankind prefers destroying all life, over cherishing it and doing good

©June 2014, Mr. Ed

*Huffing - Coyotes use four different types of sounds to communicate with each other: Howling, Barking, Yelping, and Huffing, which is a low-pitched, quiet noise. Female coyotes utilize Huffing sounds to call their pups.