Interlude

The air was still and trees in the forest stood in frozen silence. A rare day, animals listened to the echo of last summer. Hare trails in the snow made without haste, the persecuted had nothing to fear on a day when mountain lions dream. The bear in its den deep under an oak tree, dreamless sleep whether still or storm, but do not wake him up before spring. Tranquillity of peace is only a brief interlude, kill or be killed, eat or starve are wild life’s merciless destiny. Calm cracks as the cold intensifies; there will be a toll to pay if spring is too late with its promise of continuity. Behind the forest, where the blue mountain begins, a pack of wolves howl to the moon, the soul of hunters lied bare in an endless nocturnal dream.