How abused these forests are.
Hillsides scorched, soil exposed, gravel where.
Frozen trees, shrunken dwarfish bonsai cling to life.
We crept through woods without a bird, or sign of bear or deer,
And wondered where all the creatures went,
Cursed the lumbering, and acid rain.
Then as always,
we were astounded when grouse exploded from beneath our feet,
and came to a raven feasting upon a fisher’s kill, an otter’s tale, long in death,
hide rolled inside out and all devoured bones, skull crushed and swallowed.
A buck, all ten-spiked points of him sharp as pencils, pranced ahead of us
and turned back to match eyes with his, white nuzzle and giant neck,
grizzled grey unmoving.
Who dared think nobody lived here?
