Glosa – The Hunting Song

Feet in the Jungle that leave no mark!
Eyes that can see in the dark – the dark!
Tongue – give tongue to it! Hark! Oh, hark!
Once, twice, and again!

Sing to the sky, prepare the Pack.
Let every wolf know through your sinuous song
that once night has fallen we arrange the attack.
Our furious forms come together and run on
feet in the Jungle that leave no mark!

His scent will betray him, the startled sambhur.
Onward he darts, the swiftest of deer.
Put into a panic by the blur of fur
as we swiftly surround, he fears
eyes that can see in the dark – the dark!

Feed into his fear with your lusty calls.
Snap at his heels and measure your might
against the strength of the stag until he falls.
We play this game as night follows night.
Tongue – give tongue to it! Hark! Oh, hark!

Lunge after him Brother, leap to his left.
Chase after him Sister, race at his right.
The full belly shall go to the daring and deft.
We sing our Hunting Song proudly tonight,
Once, twice, and again!

Author's Notes: A glosa is a poem that pays tribute to another poet, with four stanzas written that use a line from an original poem.
Original poem- "Hunting Song of the Seeonee Pack", by Rudyard Kipling, part of the Jungle Book.
Kipling is one of my favorite writers, without question. He was one of the first writers in western literature to present the idea of wolves and the social lives they lead in a positive light, but there is much more to the story than this. The Jungle Book is a complex tale featuring more than just a positive message about nature. I have always seen it as a wonderful and somewhat sad coming of age tale that uses animals as an allegory to highlight the good and bad traits seen in human beings.