While on one of my long walks
that are a
weekly
compulsion
to seek
refuge from
and purge the buzz
of my daily
bouts
with civilization
I found myself wading deep
through the
shadowed
remains
of a dense
climax
forest
spared from
ax and
plow
by virtue of
its
steep and rocky terrain
As I climbed over a strewn
of fallen
stumps
and decay
I noticed the
inconsistency
of a couple
of yards
of hairy pelt
matted and
scraped
and stained
like a
cryptic map
And while I stood there, curious
trying to
decipher
that dark map
I was
startled when
it heaved
revealing the
labored
breathing
of the large
animal
it covered
Cautiously I pulled back the debris
from over
this fallen
monster
wedged so
tightly
between great logs
that it had
long
since ceased to struggle
I uncovered a huge head and short
horn
with one sad
pool
of eye
on this side
of his
head
pleading for
help
but also
seeming to
know it
was too late
He made no sound but that long slow
breathing
and my
astonishment
subsided
enough that I
finally
recognized
his form --
Bison
-- he was
out of time
and place,
a buffalo
hopelessly
trapped
in this pocket of lost forest
What could I do to ease his
suffering?
I dripped
water from
my canteen
at his mouth,
which
opened enough
that his huge
grey-pink
tongue
could receive
it,
though not much
before he
closed
it again
The one, so nearly human, eye that
I could
see
seemed to
show appreciation
it blinked
slowly
then closed
as if in
resignation
to its plight
knowing that
I was
too small to release him.
I found that I was exhausted
from this
tragic
encounter and
moreover
could not
just leave him
while he
still drew
breath
so I lay down
nearby
and soon fell asleep
I awoke lying in deep grass
with a
pervading
sense of warmth
and
satiation, lazing
calmly
On hearing a rustle I turned to see
that same
dark eye
from its standing hulk
looking at me
with
recognition
giving the
reassurance
of acceptance
of a tireless
sultry
summer day
Suddenly his ears twitched and
he picked up
his
head and snorted
I felt it
too, something
in the air
I stood up to
discover
that I was
in a sea of
grass
and bison
A wave of excitement and fear swept
us
in the
distance I
heard a rumble
we all
started milling
around
walking first
this
way then that
a cloud of
dust grew
on the horizon
Most of us started trotting in that
direction
the rumbling
grew
louder
I was
surrounded
by sweating hairy flanks
just one of
thousands,
compulsive
I lost
control over
my own direction
The rumble became a roar
the dust
cloud was
upon us
we turned
hard to
the right
and we ran -
full
out
Pounding hoof, pounding heart
breathing
dust and
ferimone
racing
shoulder to
flank
nose to tail,
one
mammoth organism
crashing over
the
plain
Such freedom, such power
to be
mindlessly
part of this
great tribe,
all
pervasive, undaunted
*
* * *
*
* *
Then I saw the horror, unspeakable
I could not
communicate
or warn
and they
started
falling all around me
In our midst was a string of
railroad cars
each
surmounted
by marksmen
with
their long rifles
their temper
belied
by puffs
of smoke from
their
breaches
And it all mixed together in
hysteria
the
thundering hooves,
the screaming locomotive
the volley of
explosions
the whooping
of the
"sportsmen"
the bellowing
of
death crashing under hoof
I stumbled over fallen bodies
in the stench
and
madness
I tumbled,
over and
over
through an
endless
darkness
I squirmed
and twisted
I sat bolt upright, wrenched from
my dream
that horrid
noise
still ringing in my ear
I shivered in
the
first light
as my
breathing finally
slowed
and my
emotions returned
from frantic
As the morning grew lighter
I dared to
crawl
over to where he had been
Bones!
long
disincarnated bones
mostly
decayed but
still recognizable
with the hole
in
that huge skull
staring
straight
into my soul
I wandered dazed from those woods
unable later
to retrace
nor find that place
yet to this
day
there is a
dark sad
eye that follows me
staring back
from
my mirror and my dreams
I find that I no longer take well
to crowds
but would
rather
sit and watch
the
shadow-play of
clouds over the plains
imagining the
disappearance
of all fences
and
roadways....