…She is a howling in the wilderness we can never see…
-from The Memory Palace, by Mira Bartók
A mere howl away.
That’s as far as the family has roamed. That’s all I need do, and their answer will guide me to them.
Why don’t I?
I am the Alpha, father to my cubs, mate of my mate. We hunt our range with pride. Should our prey catch even a glimpse of my black fur, they would flee. But a far more dangerous predator hunts me!
Twilight comes. I can’t shake him. I dare not lead him to my family, or them to him.
But my mate betrays me without knowing it. Her howl peels across the distance between us. My predator stops, tilts his head. He will not abandon his pursuit now.
A mere howl away. I do not answer, even when a lone tear swells in my eye. My mate and cubs will never know how desperately I yearned to reply. But I have one chance to save them.
When twilight fades, I must strike.
nightfall
a single crack of thunder
as the sky turns black
last breaths as another
lonely howl goes unanswered
for Colleen’s 2019 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 152, #Poet’sChoice
With Real Toads’ Wordy Monday with Wild Woman: The Wolf Mother (imagined by Sherry)
dVerse Poets’ dVerse Poetics: On Shades of Black (pubtended by Anmol (HA))
The pub is open! Come join us!
Frank J. Tassone 
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