Vicci Bentley
Wolves
Grizedale Forest Sculpture Trail
We had to climb to find them, slipping over rocks
and the tangle of roots clawing back their claim
on the churn of boot-loosed humus.
Still no sign. Only a relief of slate, leaves, bark -
the patient shapes of nature.
Then suddenly, we were surrounded.
Wire-ribbed wraiths, moss-headed and scrub-tailed;
gnarled branches jutting from wasted haunches frozen into the forest.
Waiting. A ghost pack resurrected from a shallow past,
stalking their own extinction.
Leaves shivered and hustled above us, doming an early dusk;
green tongues lolling through air dank with soil and silence.
Then the howling.
You had fallen - snared by some slimy ancient sinew -
face forward into cushioning mud.
But not before the rocks made their mark.
Your rowan berry blood on verdigris stone;
your forehead open, close to the bone.
As I worked to staunch the gorge,
a speck of red in my eye corner flashed so near,
I could have held this new watchers fleeting scrutiny.
Or reached out to blot the stain on the robin’s febrile heart.
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