Gray Wolf

 by Royal Rhodes

"Every wolf's...howl/ Raises
 from Hell a human soul."
        -- William Blake

The herders grazing massive flocks around
the Yellowstone protest the wolf's return,
claiming it is now a killing ground.
Defenders of the elk and deer in turn
revile the wolf, as if machines of death,
with glowing, demon yellow eyes at night,
the hounds of hell, with blood upon their breath,
as if some evil power made them bite.
The wolf, from whom our dogs descend,
so docile and obedient, who lick
the stingy hand that feeds them, in the end
is fear of those we torture, beat, and kick.
The darker image we adore
and knit our noxious dreams with twisted lore.