Through the Cycles

I walk the darkened savannas alone
I am Great Father of the jackal tribes
An old withered spirit upright
My time of leading the hunt passed

We scavenge the wastelands for food
my children bring me a share
stolen prey from real predators
and we seldom have hungry evenings

We rest in the heat of the day
piled in our ancestral cave
they lay about my feet
for I never sleep, burning eyes vigilant

There was a time I led the lions
Young and strong, influence undeniable
My tail whipped in the frenzy
of watching the kills, the scent of blood

Before that I walked among the elephants
Life was calm ingesting only plants
Put the power of the herd indescribable
everything scattered upon our thunderous approach

My time among the great reptiles unremarkable
as those ancient beasts exist without malice
but also devoid of any emotion
so cold decades passed amidst bursts of violence

The great raptors shared with me
the gift of new perception
gained from gliding the up thermals
seeing all below as one great interplay

The most difficult era was among the prey
The grazing pack animals ever alert
for tooth and claw and ambush
from others not content to live off grasses

Now the hyenas and night packs are my gang
If I had the ambition for one more run
I would rally all the forces of life against
the most feared of all killers...man