Friday, July 14, 2017

the bear, the bison, the elk



intersecting animals’ worlds

about two miles below Dunraven Pass,
where the steep slope of Mt. Washburn
gives an anxious edge to the road,
a beautiful black bear,
as brown as a grizzly,
browses on the leaves and flowers
meadows below us and before him,
he cares nothing for us
and seems to deny we exist
I hold him with my lens, my heart,
and my camera’s digitized memory as long as I can,
he calmly strides off into he trees,


















even earlier in the morning
beautiful bull bison and calves
hug the road’s edge in the Lamar Valley
and allow me and my camera incredible shots just out the window,






some pronghorn antelope also forage near to the road and us,

later two female elk ignore 
the warnings and restrictive signs at a geothermal area
and meander across the basin,
nibbling on what appeals to them
and instinctively knowing where not to go,





even though no wolves revealed themselves to us today,
we hear of their howling an hour earlier,
it is comforting to know there is still room
for animals to have their own world,
to hope that we can co-exist.



by Henry H. Walker
July 7, ’17

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