Steppenwolf

Nik Boyd

Inspired by feelings that arose during a Skan session.


The shadow of
my father's judgement
draped itself
over my shoulders,
hiding them
like another skin,
and overshadowing
the energetic
and dynamic youth
I once was,
and still hold at heart,
loins and legs,
feet and hands.

Though at times
I fiercely denied
resemblance,
I clearly "became" him
in form and also
absorbed aspects
of his demeanor,
not merely in form,
but also in psyche,
in spite of past and best
and contrary efforts.

His mantle
passed to me
and over me,
and then suddenly
dissolved,
like a ghostly vapor
whose fear I once held
and held onto
for far too long.

That vapor,
which once
and so long clouded my vision
and shrouded my felt sense
of quick and hearted life,
was shivered off
and finely lifted
by the graceful
breath and feel
of life itself.

The wolf
carried and cared for
by the boy within
never died,
but only grew large
in secret,
behind bright eyes
and light heart,
until its shape
wholly filled
and consumed
the man in which
he lived.

The wolf
now freed
from his only
apparent confines
grins and growls,
rumbles and scowls,
runs and prowls,
hunts and howls,
shed his man-skin
and lifts his heart
and voice in song
with his kind and kin
under a languid
and lofty
mooooooooooon.