

WOLFSHINE
One day I saw a wolf
with pain in his eyes
though I knew not why.
He called me Sunshine
though I was just a star
wandering in the sky,
cutting through the night.
He called out to me
lone and new
in a world imbued
with things to lose.
I did not understand
the world he sees,
nor did he.
Nor did he.
We had to let the world be.
This lone wolf pulled away
from the sheep
but couldn’t sleep
if he should so much as eat
a little lamb.
You see,
so long had he been amongst the flock
that he had all but forgot
his claws and key.
I saw scars on his shoulders,
pain of another kind.
Wolves always have a mind
to seek out and find
their freedom.
A wolf dares to dream
to be something greater
than it seems.
He went searching for Sunshine−
looking for truths,
things he once knew,
places far to get to.
I watched him traverse
desert plains
and wash away blood stains.
I watched him climb
mountain tops,
never embracing a single stop.
I watched him swim
vast oceans,
bleeding out emotions.
He had grown to fear anger,
afraid of these red notions.
I greeted the lone wolf,
asked him what he was looking for.
“Myself,” he replied,
“I want to see what’s in store
for me.
What will I be?”
“Not a sheep,” Sunshine said,
wondering what had led
him to such a question.
Questions are delicious tensions.
“Say what you want to be,
and quite naturally,
you will be what you seek.
What we create
becomes our mate
and affects us down to the gates
of who we are, my dear wolf.”
“Sunshine, how do you know?
I’m going to keep going and going
and go and go−
“Until the snow laughs-
I mean falls” she herself laughed,
“I should think a kiss
in sprinkling flake halls
would be such a dream,
don’t you think?” she asked,
“I’ve never had it done to me,
no one loves a star
when there’s things to see
coming down from the sky−
each and everyone so unique
it makes me want to cry.
These humans I see
are like that−
The wolf heaved a sigh.
“Sunshine, you leave a sparkle
everywhere you go.”
“I know, but I wish I cast but a shadow,
as you do.”
“Why?” the wolf wondered
with great surprise.
“These people you watch,
they shine my light
but they also have the night
trailing behind them.
They have potential to fill,
unseen and unknown,
beautiful and wondrous
dying to be shown.
Their shadow follows
and shows what's known:
uncertainty. The Unknown.
What do you see, Wolfie?”
“I see them forget their hearts
for their tongues.
I see them forget to breathe
with their lungs.
I see them fail to see
lies with their own eyes.
I see them fail to be
and live their own lives.
They seek only the present
but cling to the past,
live in constant hesitance,
and fear what the future
casts.
They stay stuck
in the muck
unable to change their mind.
They never depart
lest the start
singe their fragile mind−
“How hard it must be
to be human,” Sunshine spoke.
“Yes, I think so,
but perhaps if they learned to go
and accept their form,
it’d be easier to know
themselves.”
“But few remember to ask.
Those that do, receive.”
“Indeed,” Wolfie growled
a laughing howl
to the sun.
“Come,” she whispered,
“Come with me for a time
and we shall make something sublime."
She had but a question.
"What should we call it?”
“Wolfshine,” he mused.
“Then you shall be my muse.
I will make something grand
for you
and only for you−
a wolf and a star,
I think we can go far,
just us two−
if we dare.”
“I thought stars don’t share their hearts.”
“We do,
I will give you a piece!
But it will come to an end
and you must find peace
with that,” she warned.
“I will give you something too,
something you never knew:
a kindness warmer
than your own warmth
to help you in that endless space.
I think it brings you great harm
to be up there so alone.”
And he did.
He was sweet,
sweeter than molasses−
sweeter than beats
of music drumming seeds
of love.
“I love it when you sing to me,
your voice of spring I could listen to
all day.
It’s soft and sweet – sounds like
a dash of potpourri, honey, and
simplicity.”
He smiled his wolfish grin
having never known his soft spin
on words and hymns sung to win
the sun’s heart.
He would howl at her,
her harbinger of enamored
talks and tunes.
She would light his way
as he trailed along dunes
and trees and bumblebees
wondering what he was
growing to be.
Wolfie passed waterfalls
tired of falling,
but he smiled.
He passed cliffs
tired of ifs,
and he grinned all the while.
Amongst the whys
he grew wise.
The power of a name
is never the same
once said.
It slips into our beds,
soundless, pain-
less
and treads
into our souls
to make us bold-
makes concrete what lays deep in our folds,
tangible,
touchable,
never aging to old.
We are never the same
from whence it came.
They grew close
and learned much from each other-
so it goes with roses
and things unknown.
They dived deeper, so deep
into their hearts to keep
something beautiful alive.
But sadly, all things must die,
a stark starred melody of
life’s dark side.
“My dear Wolfie,
our time has come to an end–
“But, Sunshine, we can still be friends–
“No, my lovely wolf.
An end does not mean we ship to sea
as friends,” she cried,
“Take a piece of my heart
and I yours.
Then we are to part,
but never forget the force
of love
and light
and loneliness.”
“Where will you go?”
“To places unknown.
I must always be alone.
I would never dare bring another
to the darkness to suffer.
I am in love with things unseen,
searching for things to bring into being.”
“Sunshine, you don’t have to be alone.”
“But I do, for life must go on.
I am tied to the sweet nothings
that so quickly die.
I am born into the miseries
of their fleeting eyes
seeing life.”
“I don’t want you to go,”
Wolfie cried.
“If I don’t,
the wind won’t blow.
If I don’t,
I won’t see what I don’t know.
If I don’t,
the rain won’t shower rainbows.
My dear Wolfie, I must go,
but before I do,
I must give you
something you will pass along
to all wolves, never to be gone.
I hope in your heart there is no hate
from this forceful fate,
but it will be your ally.
May I?”
“Anything you give me is a gift,
pray, tell me, what is it?”
“You will always see others in red,
you will have different eyes and instead
see their burning heat
from their heart beats.
You will always be ahead
and witness the walking dead.
You will see the beauty of the color.
Brazen hearts shine boldly, brightly,
but sadness brings blues of duller
hues burning coldly, silently.
You will see others as they’re meant to be–
their chosen cages
or blissfully free.”
“And what are you, Sunshine?”
“Just wait and see,” she whispered.
He saw
and it scorched his eyes.
The sun beaten down
by freedom.
The pain to see her was too much to bear.
She seemed as though she didn’t care,
hurting him so with flames of woe.
The wolf turned to the night,
angry with his newfound sight.
Cursed with seeing in red,
it would be a long time till the dread
lifted.
She had given him anger,
that which he feared,
and he was but a stranger
to its forceful power seared
strong.
The wildfire raged within
and the wolf fell to terrible sins.
Sunshine watched and wept,
but anger is the spark we need
to keep us sure and let us heed
silenced hearts and voices
begging to be heard.
It is the flame for drive,
spurred to action and so alive.
Even a wildfire is needed every now and then,
to help us purge demons deep within.
She had shaken him to his core
so he could see what was in store
for him.
A simple request, a hard task.
They broke their hearts,
cracked open
bleeding apart
to grow forth a fresh start-
to grow forth those strings of the heart.
They let their eyes weep,
glazed over
sunken deep
to go forth and see
life differently.
A changed perspective
breaking away
from the broken collective.
He always saw in red,
but soon he saw instead
love and not anger.
They both blazed red.
Love is apart from the will,
something that couldn’t be helped,
that made the soul still
and slowly melt
until it is one
with the sun.
He took one last look
to see her clearly—
a book
of flaming pages
flying in the sky
writing everything down in sight.
She shines anger
unlike any other,
loves each and every brother,
livid with how they throw away life,
loving all despite their self-inflicted strife.
Wolfie turned to the night
and created his own pack.
He learned from the humans
and their bent backs.
He let the old and sick set the pace
while the others learned patience.
He taught respect
and what it begets.
He focused on questions
and easing tensions.
He led them to lead
their lives
and keep the fire burning alive
deep in their eyes.
Sunshine kept her sparkles,
always smiling
at the undying memories of
Wolfshine.
With each eclipse
he would miss
those lips
whispering
whims into the wind.
This lone wolf sang to the moon,
a shade of Sunshine
and gone soon,
Singing, “Me and You,
just us two,
was beautiful in lew
of the ending.”
The wolves followed suit,
howling at the crescent,
celestial remnants
reflecting Sunshine
every night.
Never there
but always caring for a
lone wolf no longer new,
a love affair between
an unlikely two.
They grew close
and it drew to a close.
Fin