THE STORY OF THE NARWHAL
AND THE WOLF
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Orcan sing-song sang the story
of a Narwhal male and wolf
who met where ice and water merge
the Arctic Sea, the winter ice.
They talked one night, in truth.
We heard it through our sharpest ears
up on the outer skin
our eyes embraced a sight,
behold! The wolf and Narwhal speak.
One flutes, the other's howls echo.
They talked, in language
only they and we might understand
Narwhalese and Orcan
cross currents in the surging seas,
while the wolf sang alto.
O, how wolf wailed
of long ago, the tribes
in vast control of landed ice
who measured the grounds
by wolf patrols, supremely
in command of all domains
where no man ever came,
or knew of, these were centuries
of territorial imperatives,
wolves once ruled terrain
until that beast called man
dawned in creation.
When he made the gun
he doomed them to a grave
on permafrost, wiped-out, alive
or dead, they've now lost count.
Packs still wander murky coasts
inland may be dangerous
where man lurks
evil, death smells fierce.
Man's fires burn hot bullets
searing straight through flesh
killing in one instant breath
a wolf; a nobler species
never stalked the wild Earth.
The wolf-made song,
uttered into space
sirened sharp details aloud
howling long low cadences,
sound waves shocked the Arctic gloom.
At once to attention
inner ears bristled whistles.
The wolf cried out vast memories
of lives extinct
roaring lungfuls, "Why man, O why?"
The Narwhal heard a voice
strike right into his heart,
a piercing wail, shrieking
pangs of feelings
with which he could identify.
As well this Narwhal did remember
the ambush in pack ice,
where machine guns killed
a score for horns-
our gnarled and twisted tooth
humans prize.
However humans do
their wretched human stink,
spilling into oceans, wracks
of fury and of pains
taking life for trophy,
not knowing they annihilated
conscious brains, a deed in trust
between two knowing beings,
Narwhals, Whales, and Dolphins, yes!
The wolf listened also
with his eyes as he demurely walked
across the ice to where the Narwhal clicked,
speed-talk quickening in ratio
to pulse tones chattering staccatos.
As Narwhalese punctuates water,
the seas open ears and eyes
synesthesia-wise
sonar echoes beam the ice,
the Narwhal's head appears
above the surface choppy waters,
his gigantic "tusk" toothed forward
gazing kindly toward the wolf
spellbound by the sight of such
a delicate, ethereal creature.
"How could he kill you?" wolf raged,
"You did nothing to him."
The Narwhal listened, cried
in vain to recall the loved from death.
Man's firepower excelled all, period.
A conversation did ensue
between these creatures
who took to heart
a common truth, man
the menace to himself.
Plain as day breaks
upon the east, western
winds engulf the world
in one strong language,
blasting mankind through the sky.
The wolf knelt down
upon the ice where our Narwhal
lingered, horn to fang,
a landed creature meeting
a true water master.
Intelligent and wise,
a real soul, sentient,
kindhearted, dominant.
In the water he ruled supreme,
the leader from his pod.
Impressed, the wolf digressed,
he almost could not believe
the sophisticated sonar sound,
he could feel it ping his fur
tingling spasmodically.
Tremors up and down his spine
made his hairs stand up on end,
to comprehend sonar harmonics.
The face of this Narwhal
burst from the water, splattering
salt water into his eyes,
laughing with Narwhalean giggles.
As though getting a wolf wet
was a serious crime worthy
of wolf like fury, the famous wolf,
master predator,
second to none, not even polar bears,
renowned for tenacity,
the ferocious push with fanged jaws,
fishing the straits on summer evenings.
"Would you, wolf, eat me
if I came by your side?
May I come near, next to you
where you gaze
from the edge of ice?
"May I trust
in your glance,
you mean me no harm
if I point my sharp knife
by your snout without hurt?
"May I trust that your bite
will not clamp at my tusk,
to ensnare me to land,
to be eaten by wolf packs
to die on land, so ignoble!"
The wolf looked so tamed,
sweet and serene,
he was not faking,
he was enchanted, enthralled
at conversing with a Narwhal.
Never would he spark a glance
from eye to eye -
"Look into my eyes", called
the Narwhal,
"I am wolf-proof!"
"I bow down to the very edge
where ice and water mix
bring me your tusk,
let me feel you
with my tongue and tooth.
"No pressure from my jaws
will ever frighten you,
dear creature from the deeps,
tell me of your lives,
what is the world of water like?"
The Narwhal was delighted,
he believed the wolf
though he was no fool,
he had a plan, in case this was a lure,
yet he knew the wolf was kind,
and was he ever so.
This wolf and Narwhal
touched each other physically,
The Narwhal's ten foot tooth
met the warmth of mouth.
Only one wolf has done so,
this one who now licks
his tongue up and down
the spiral ivory,
a rarer breed there never was
or could be, he thought.
Such a personable Narwhal
to have ever existed,
to listen to the plaintings
of a wolf.
The sea master listened,
watched, and felt the warm tongue
touch his O, so sensitive tooth,
was this a kiss -
between Narwhal and wolf?
In the charging bolts
of Arctic waters
the mysteries of land and sea
resolve between one
species and another.
Narwhal, wolf, the two combined
create a whole, a place, a spot
in the light, where words collide
on contact, howling, uttering
sheer madness that clears the dark
and all is bright again.
The wolf knows ferocious coloraturas,
the Narwhal thrills to the core,
in the care, kind loving
of this four legged supremacist.
He knelt down as though before,
the wisest of all wolves
in councils with elders,
where wolves connive
by every canine tooth they have.
Meanwhile our Narwhal grieves
for the sense of loss he sees
in wolf's eyes, a sense
of emptiness, an icy vacuum,
a place seen hitherto only by Narwhals.
Intrigued, beguiled, he invents a song
to assuage a wolf's sad grief
so touch a Narwhal's heart,
an utter mournful plight,
urging the true nature of a wail.
A wolf's wail,
a Narwhal
together do ring
pinged tunes
trilling in conversation.
A wolf calls out
the names of lost ones,
suffered under the dreaded hunt
from man. "Ah," the Narwhal cried,
"do not remind me, forget man."
"How, how, how can we forget,
the target of metal lightning
ripping open flesh.
Just like you do, eh?"
screamed the Narwhal,
"Hypocrite", the sea monster
gargled, "infamous wolves,
no mercy, no plea, no reprieve."
"Hah!" the wolf mock-snarled,
"What do you do when you fish?"
"That's different - we just fish,
catch 'em and eat 'em.
No, you, wolf, stalk your prey
until you half frighten them to death.
Some of you are worse, so mean,
"so abysmally mean,
like just to frighten
a baby reindeer to death
by entrapping it,
not allowing escape,
"until the poor animal
is scared out of wits
and goes insane. So young,
so purely innocent,
it's mother killed, eaten.
"And now, with all protection gone,
the young reindeer,
encircled by snarls and snaps,
angry, hungry fangs pretend
to razor such sweet flesh,
"you wolves are mean, really mean,
the way you pen your prey."
"Sure, we save them for a feast
we'll have another day."
"Hah!" interjected Narwhalese,
sea crap triggered the Narwhal,
"You, wolf, are exposed,
you hurt for the hell of it,
we don't, we just catch the fish
and eat them, no fuss, no mess."
"Bah," shoved the wolf,
"You don't know the power of land,
it's different from sea,
more dangerous, we must guard
our territories with a vengeance-"
"Vomit," sang the Narwhal,
"imbecile utterings from a know-nothing.
The sea is vastly more perilous,
worse, much worse
the horror of the deeps.
"Only we, the whales and dolphins
know how to tackle them.
As man treats you, perhaps,
we take care of sharks-
see - you're holding our weapon."
the wolf transfixed, humbled,
knew he was gazing
at the superior being,
no doubt the Narwhal
saw through him, through and through,
and knew his very nature,
fundamentally to the core.
How could a life-form from the ocean
penetrate such fine detail
without any contact heretofore?
"It is nonsense to think," the Narwhal said,
"that we are superior to you,
you do not count in our world
except as a nuisance,
fishing for Narwhal babies.
"We know your ways,
you wolves have traveled
in our lore for centuries,
eons, dynasties,
we've spied upon you encyclopedically."
Wolf's eyes glinted,
the pupil opened wide,
the gold iris vanished,
as now wolf's essence
penetrated directly into mind,
deep contact on a cellular level.
Two living beings from creation
touching each other on a scale
of crescendos impossible to score,
where thoughts meet, all is.
The Narwhal looked with deep respect
upon the figure down before him,
he loved this wolf
who was accountable.
The wolf cut his gaze laser-like
straight to the heart
of the matter, in this case,
the quintessence of Narwhal,
the honor was all wolf's,
imagine a sea master teaching humility.
The wolf grew ashamed,
and cried, a lonesome tune,
so pensive, it forces one to cry.
You are helpless,
sucked in by emotion and the wolf.
"Ah, how misunderstood we wolves are,
our reputations precede us, perhaps;
after all, we are intelligent,
we rule the north, the ice, the woods,
mountains, coasts, rivers, streams."
Narwhal screamed again,
such a raucous clitter-clatter
the wolf shut up at once,
"What did you say?
'After all we are intelligent'?
"You are not intelligent enough
to be a great wolf.
You must be good hearted,
a beautiful breed,
whimsical, philosophical.
"Rise above the pack,
just kill your prey at once,
try it, you'll see results,
Nature will respect you more,
nor will Narwhals ever be afraid again."
Absurd, the wolf thought,
this Narwhal is really psyching me out,
beseeching me to go against my nature
as though I were humanely judged,
telling me it's wrong to stalk and capture
even for the fun of it.
"How repugnant," groaned the Narwhal
picking up the wolf's thoughts,
"who kills for fun?"
"Man does," the wolf retorted.
"Ah," responded Narwhal,
"indeed it is so-
men are unpredictable,
they slaughter or they wonder
at the sight of us."
"Essentially similar here,"
decried the wolf
"and they hate us with a vengeance."
"Not us!" exclaimed Narwhal,
"People never hated us,"
"truth was, they never understood
our ways, our colonies,
the fishing zones
our social territories
we were nothing to men,
"just booty to them.
There was no mind in us,
we were like, say, fish
to them, totally nothing,
just a stupid Narwhal.
"Man still does not know us
for all that we are-
cetaceans from the northern lights,
the unicorns of the seas,
told through sea-canaries, beluga.
"One human did pick up
the gist of this encounter
to the tiniest degree.
What happened was far more awesome
in fact than these too human words can tell.
The two sang to each other
of their natures respectively,
they sang throughout the night,
enjoying camaraderie developed
in their communication.
SONG OF THE NARWHAL
PRE-DAWN WATERS FAR LUMINOUS,
DAYBREAK SPAN HORIZON, CLOUDS,
SUNRISE, BEAMS BLINDING
LIGHT TO NARWHAL EYES.
HUNGRY STOMACHS GO FISHING,
EARLY MORNING CATCHING'S GOOD,
COD, HERRING, ROE IN WATERS.
FRESH FISH FOR EATING.
SPRING EQUINOX MELTING ICE,
AWAITING SUMMER SOLSTICE ALL
DAY, EVERYDAY TOTAL JOY,
FISHING, DINING, OCEAN WARMTH.
SWIM TOWARD MIDNIGHT SUN,
FOLLOWING MIGRATIONS, SWARMS SCHOOLS
FISH, COLD WATER, LUSCIOUS,
RAW, CRUNCHY, DAZZLING, JUICY!
A WOLF'S SONG
FOR YEARS I RETURNED THESE ICE COASTS
TO SING AND HOWL INTO SPACE.
WHEN FULL MOON AROSE,
URGINGS IN MY VOICE PROCLAIMED
MY SONG, THE WOLF IS SECOND TO NONE,
UTTERING PRIMEVAL CALLS
LONELY IN THE NIGHT.
WHO KNEW A NARWHAL EVER HEARD
MY PAIN, ACUTE, UNREGISTERED.
CRYING OUT A LONESOME TUNE
PICKED UP BY SEA-TRAINED EARS
OF A MAMMAL IN FAR WATERS.
UNUSUAL CONFLUENCE, WOLF AND NARWHAL.
I, WOLF, LOVE YOU, NARWHAL,
A SHOCK WAVE LOOMS UP FROM THE DEEPS,
I WILL ALWAYS LONG FOR YOUR COMPANY.
NARWHAL'S RESPONSE
CLICK REGISTERED, SPEAK NARWHALESE
PERFECTLY, PITCH, WOLF, HEAR
VOCALS, COLORFUL LANGUAGE, PRAISE
CLEAR CONTACT, PURE LOVE.
YOUR SONGS HEARD
NIGHTLY, SOJOURNS MOURNING MATE,
PAIN ANGUISH REFLECTED, WATERS
SINGING, DEATH CRIES ECHOING,
HEART PIERCED, MY TUSK
BREAKS ICE HEARING SUCH
ANIMAL MUSIC CRYING, INCONSOLABLE,
PASSION FROM SENSITIZED LYRICS.
IF INTO YOU,
KNOWING YOU SWIM NOT.
HERE NOW WE SPEAK,
NARWHAL CLOSER KNOWS WOLF.
WOLF LYRIC
I UNDERSTAND YOU NARWHAL,
YOUR COUNTENANCE FEELS KIND.
SUCH ONE AS YOU
NEVER GRACED MY MIND.
A CREATURE FROM THE OCEAN,
HORN PROTRUDING FROM A TOOTH
EXTENDING LIKE A SINGLE ANTLER.
SHARP EDGED WEAPON, FORMIDABLE,
WHAT FANGS MAY DARE COMPARE
TO THE LENGTH OF YOUR SWORD,
ONLY MAN'S RIFLES COME CLOSE
IN MY MEMORY.
TO CONVERSE WITH MYSTERY
IS BEYOND ANY WOLF'S IMAGINATION,
YET YOU ARE HERE, REAL, GLEAMING,
INTELLIGENCE SPARKLES, SURROUNDING SEA WATERS.
KIND WOLF, WE INTERFACE
ROYAL LEVELS, YET UNKNOWN
LOVE. AS THIS REMOTE
JUNCTURE COUNTRIES INFINITE STATES,
AWARENESS EXPANDS HIGHER DEGREES,
YES, NARWHAL INTELLIGENCE, CETACEAN.
WE THINKING BEINGS, SENTIENT,
ARE LOVING CREATURES AFTER ALL.
WOLF, BE FIRST LANDED
ANIMAL, BRAVE HEART, STRONG
NARWHALS SHARE OUR COLONIES,
EMPATHIZE YOUR FATE, BEHOLD
MANKIND, STRUCK YOU DOWN
TO WIN THE TERRITORIES.
SURVIVE BRUTE FORCE, ENGULF
THE WORLD, STRENGTHEN, GATHER THE WORLD.
WOLF RESPONDS
NARWHAL, YOUR LINGUISTIC SOUNDS
ENRAPTURE ME. I, WOLF, WHO SING MUSIC
FAR PAST MIDNIGHT INTO DAWN,
I APPRECIATE YOUR DEDICATION
TO A WOLF CRY FOR PEACE
BETWEEN OUR SPECIES.
A FRIENDSHIP WAS BORN
BETWEEN THE DEPTH OF THESE WATERS,
THE MIGHTY COASTS, THE ICE
AND BERGS, THE FOGS, WINTER STORMS,
EERIE ELECTRICAL STORMS
THAT SHATTER BLACK FRIGID NIGHTS.
NARWHAL, HEAR MY SOCIAL ORCHESTRAS
CRACK OPEN YOUR SOUL,
TO LET A WOLF IN FOR AWHILE
NOW LOOK, SEE WOLF GROW!
NARWHALESE
HUMAN HUNTERS GUNNED DOWN
MEMBERS FROM THE POD.
NARWHALS, AIR BREATHING, CONSCIOUS,
DIED, KILLED CREATURE SWEEPING.
WE SAW THE WHALES
RESPIRE, BELIEVING ALL CREATIONS
BREATHING THE LASTING LIFE
SENTIENT, THINKING THOUGHTS HEROIC.
MOTHERS WAIL, HEARD MUTTERINGS
BY OTHER MEMBERS, SUFFERING.
THESE NARWHALS CRY OUT LOUD
MISERIES, TRANSFORM THE MINDFUL.
OUR SPIRAL TUSK DOOMED
US FOR OUR BEAUTY,
WE THRUST CHARGING, BEHOLD
AWARE, POWERS OF CREATION SO.
WOLF
ELOQUENT MUTINGS INSPIRE ONE
TO BECOME EVEN GREATER, NARWHAL -
YOU TEACH ME UNDREAMED THINGS
UNSPOKEN, YOU SING-SONG QUICK UTTERINGS.
I, WOLF, HUNT TOGETHER WITH MY PACK
IN COLD WEATHERS, LIFE IS BLEAK
GRAY, DARK, LONELY OF THE NIGHT
GUARDING TERRITORIES WITH A VENGEANCE
OUR LOT IS TO BE THE HUNTERS,
FRESH GAME RIGHT ON THE SPOT
LIVE FISH FOR YOU, MEAT FOR US.
ICE, SNOW, COASTS, MOUNTAINOUS TERRAINS,
SIRES FATHER OUR MOTHERS
OUR PACK INCREASES OR FADES LIKE THE TIDES.
ONCE, WE DOMINATED ALL TOTALITY;
NOW, OUR MORTAL ENEMY INVADES IT CHEERFULLY.
WOLF, YOUR WHALE-LIKE CHANTINGS
OPEN HEART, TO FEEL
NATURE TOUCHING INMOST SOUL,
ABOUNDS MINE UNDERSTANDING, YOURS.
MAN, HUMANS, THE WATERS
INVADES SURFACE, SHIP SOIL,
FISH OUR FISHING ZONES,
ROTTING BYWAYS STINKING WASTES.
METAL HULLS BOUNCE ECHOES,
SHEER, UGLY, METALLIC SOUND.
DISASTERS REMINDS, HUMAN GUN
FLEE BULLETS, MURDER WHALES.
COMPASSIONATE WHALES HARPOONED, KILLED.
BULL-MALES, FEMALES, ELDERS, YOUNG ONES
BLEEDING TO DEATH, WHALED. MAN'S
RESPONSIBLE FOR THESE DEEDS.
WOLF PACKS MOURN THEIR DEAD ONES TOO,
LANDS INVADED BY "CIVILIZATIONS"
PEOPLING THE WORLD, NO MIGHTIER POWER
THAN MAN STALKS THE WORLD, LAND, OR SEA.
FORGET MAN, LET'S JUST WAIL, THE TWO OF US
ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS
GAZE SKYWARD, WATCH THESE NORTHERN LIGHTS
ILLUMINATE THE ICY LANDS AND WATERS.
SUN FLARES EXOTIC LUMINATIONS,
WOLVES HOWL TO ETERNAL WOLF,
THE ESSENCE OF THEIR FAME
ECHOING THE MOUNTAINS, CANYONS,
ACCURATE HEARING TARGETS SOUND,
LOCATING BY LAND WHAT NARWHALS ECHO.
LAMENT AS WE MAY FOR THE LOST ONES,
ALIVE TOGETHER WE PASS SOLELY INTO HISTORY.
