“Why a wolf?”, some people ask.
“How can you say he was your best friend?”
Because he was.
“But surely this is a strange thing to say”
For you that may be true.
For me it is not.
My wolf was my best friend.
It is as simple as that.
“But friends are those you can trust”
“Those that will never let you down”
“But this was a wolf”
“You cannot trust a wolf”
“It may eat you”
“Could it not eat you?”
Yes and no.
You see we shared meals together.
And laughs too.
We ran together in the fields
And rested our bodies together as one.
We did that day and night.
He was my friend.
“Surely there was suspicion.”
“Wild animals deserve suspicion.”
“Without suspicion there is a fool’s adventure.”
“You cannot trust a wolf.”
No, here you are in error.
It is with people that suspicion is a necessary guiding light.
Our primate background makes suspicion wise,
When we meet others of our kind.
The myths on wolves run so deep
They so often generate a fear unwise
They miss the gentle side wolves show
As they together join in flow
Have you ever seen a wolf just glide
Across the field or through the wood
It is truly a vision to behold
A dance of nature with grace and trust
Could you truly say that with others of Your Kind
You can always rest easy in trust?
I do not believe that is true.
Maybe a wolf you should get.
Then you can learn true trust
And love
It is as simple as that.
And when you say wild, what do you mean?
Do you mean a creature that lives in harmony with the world?
A creature that does not know betrayal?
Is that what you mean by wild?
If so then step outside.
Look at the other creatures, those whom you call wild.
Could they not teach you something?
When you say yes you will not longer ask
Why a wolf
Photo Credit
Photo by John Fentress – All Rights Reserved
Guest Author Bio
John Fentress
I began my academic studies in psychology, with a minor in the biological sciences. From an early age I sought to explore the roots both of human existence and our relationships to nature. I had the amazing good fortune to live life with a special wolf when I pursued my PhD studies at Cambridge UK. The field is called “ethology”, the comparative and biological study of behavior. In addition to my scientific studies, which have moved into the neurosciences, I have long had deep philosophical interests concerning questions such as what we as humans are all about, and how we connect with the universe more generally.
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Blog / Website: Lupey Wolf
Carol A. Namur says
Tears where running freely down my cheeks and leaving dark stains on my blue sweat shirt. by the time I finished reading your poem about Lupey and his kind. THANK YOU … Isn’t that something!!! :-)… you make me cry… and I say thank you :-). The thing is… you are so right !.
The sad truth is that WE HUMANS in our lack of true HUMANITY have almost brought to extinction wolves in many places in the world. In the animal kingdom, WOLVES are the ones that most closely resemble our ways of. being. of reacting and expressing our state of mind. They even have in their facial expression the same kind of signals we give others: They yawn like us ( when they trying to calm others down … ”all right already can we move on? …this is becoming BORING) They growl when they are upset…don’t we do similar signals when we are ? They prefer living in a family and greet each others when they are reuniting after an absence) They collaborate together and respect the hierarchy of the family (… as us, sometime they will try to show that they have grown up and should and want to have more liberty 🙂
IT is so sad to see that so many people are still so unaware of just how close to human wolves really are ! No wonder Wolf was man’s first best friend ! A lot of dogs are close relatives, some more than others !
Wolves greatest enemy has unfortunately become Mankind. If they where as dangerous to Man as some people think they are, we would not have the luck of books upon books of wonderful pictures obviously taken in the wild and, obviously taken close enough to make the pictures spectacular.
THANK YOU I am sure Lupey is proud of you and grateful for the friendship that still bounds you and will continue to be so. There is a good chance that when you take a walk in the woods, if you still your mind… you will feel him still very close.
THANK YOU FOR THE TEARS…they where worth it
Amicalement, ( French for in the spirit of friendship)
Carol A. Namur