Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CONSCIENCE, by DANIEL HEITMEYER


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CONSCIENCE, by                    
First Line: I saw the gray wolf on the hill-top wild
Last Line: The wolf will come again -- he'll come to stay.
Subject(s): Wolves


I saw the gray wolf on the hill-top wild --
The old man I met said no wolves had been
For fifty years in all that land, and smiled
When I told him of the wolf that I had seen.

But I saw, against the dawn, the wolf so lean
I thought the dawn-wind cleanly blew through him.
There was no shadow where he stood, -- when seen
His form like evil memory grew dim.

Why was the wolf there on the hill? None saw;
I'd sworn I had not done the thing they said;
I'm sure there was no watcher of the law --
But one still star that came to watch the dead.

The gray wolf vanished when the dawn-wind blew;
Soft footed, none heard him when he went away.
The old man still smiled; but I saw; I knew;
The wolf will come again -- he'll come to stay.





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