Moonlight Rhapsody
Oh, Moony, I wish you didn't suffer such torment on these nights.
I see your pain—if only I could free you from the moon, put all to rights!
But don't fear; endure the moment—the change is only that, and then
The night is ours, and the forest too; they'll welcome us again.
There, see? It's over now; the vestigial traces of humanity are lost—
Yet in joyous midnight's embrace, it doesn't seem so great a cost,
Considering the games we can play, formed as we now are;
Chasing, tumbling, howling, the only witnesses the silent stars.
Come race with me beneath the silver moon—
The night is fleeting; dawn will arrive all too soon.
Live in the moment, your only cries those of jubilation,
For in serenity of paradise, time seems to blur into sensation.
I can see your joy, too—for in your eyes,
There is humanity, unchanged and undisguised.
Listen! I know you understand as surely as you do
In other phases, or by day. Follow me; night isn't yet through.
There's time yet to play, just as we did in days Time has driven back—
Although we still feel keenly the pain of a diminished pack.
Prongs, this is in your memory, too; the past isn't forgotten. We see
The intangible phantoms of our childhood selves running with us, but don't flee.
Memory vanishes—only bade to recede, but never lost.
How could it be—these same paths, after all, we crossed
In youth. Misty forest moonlight watched over us there,
As it must tonight. We run now, as then, without a care.
For now, in this moment, there is only the present,
Canine howls in harmony with lupine, sounds pleasant
To the woodland denizens that listen tonight—
Our calls of unity pealing under the starlight.
Our paws race over the earth in a staccato octet,
With morning still to come, fair sun not risen yet.
Now there is sweet freedom to temper the pain
For so great in these nights is the joy that we gain!
And while the dawn brings your curse's surcease,
It's no use to pretend so to loathe the release.
I know you would choose to be free if you could,
And if I could give you the miracle, I would.
But in the moonlight, I can see your heart's smile;
For now, there is peace, if just for a while.
Change brings you a moment to treasure—this night,
Pack renewed and together, in wordless delight.