The Wolves

There are a few lines I'm a bit iffy about still. It's complete but probably not finished yet. The wolves prowl the darkness out beyond my fire’s circle More arrive each day to join the pack Their eyes are flashing curious with hunger-sharpened wit And the promise of that little thing I lack The desert night is littered with the cracked forgotten bones Of those who tried and failed to tame the beast They sought a friendly howl and an escort on their way But ended as a morsel in the feast False and mangy prophets with a fabled human spirit That has rescued souls from desert, wood and jungle Their bellies full of brimstone and a fire that burns for flesh Snaps and singes at men’s heels until they stumble And though the she-wolf comforts feeds and fights without a fear For some naked, weak and desperate starving child The hunger soon returns; that dancing flame that flits and burns Behind her eyes is sometimes warm but always wild I watch the city’s glow way off across the endless sands That turn to icy crystals of a night And dream of waiting arms and singing voices swelling glorious All gathered for the sharing of the light A whispered Hallelujah bundled tightly in my arms Shivers in the absence of her cries And swaddled in her silence, sends her gaze forever skyward The world turns all to water ‘fore my eyes Soon our flimsy orange tent that floats against the stars Will fall down all about us sharp and cold As it gutters in the gusts it sends a quiver down my spine That’s echoed in the distances untold My little bundle shifts herself, I know the time is near The moon is disappearing beam by beam Her song must join the chorus, there’s a journey to be made And so I stand, but then I hear another scream