Wild and Beautiful and Free

        What is it with me and wolves?  I cannot tell you.  I only know that these magnificent creatures of the wild are thrilling to see.  They never fail to bring me joy.  And near to tears at times.

        Some time ago we happened to see a documentary showing wolf packs at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  It was Christmas, and it was pure magic.  Trees laden with ice, the snowflakes glistening the moonlight, wolves running through the deep snow so amazingly fast and free.  I sat there on our sofa with tears running down my face.  Hard to explain such a reaction, but there it was.  Couldn't  help rejoicing that God had created such wonderful creatures.

        Sitting on my desk is a photograph of five wolves out West somewhere, running across a snowy landscape at sundown.  A full moon is still visible, the mountains in the background are a lavendar color, and the tinted snow is a deep purple.  Gorgeous scene.  One can just feel the delight and freedom these wolves must be feeling.  I can, and I'm not a wolf.

        Two of my favorite items of clothing are shirts with wolves on them, one with a huge wolf face staring out, and the other with two animals, one white and one black standing together under a moonlight night. When I wear these shirts, many people comment on them, and some have asked where they can get one like them.  I tell them, from an Indian reservation in New Mexico whereupon I furnish the name and address.

        Also, one of our dogs, a big black handsome thing, with wolf in him the vet once said, plays right into my love of these animals.  Dylan acts like one at times, cannot get enough of cold weather although he's a Tennessee doggie, doesn't like to be handled much, has still after several years of having him, a touch of wildness in him.

        I've read in a nature calendar my husband gave me for Christmas last year that black wolves are often classified as the Alexander Archipelago wolf (Canis lupus ligoni), a relatively small, mostly dark-colored variety of wolf named for islands within Alaska's Tongass National Forest.  Anyway, Dylan looks just like the black wolf staring out at me from the month of March.

        Some people need chemical substances to get them through the day.  Not I.  Just give me a documentary about wolves and I am high.  And the one thing in this natural world I most yearn to see?  The eyes of one of God's most thrilling works -- a wolf in the wild staring back at me.

        Loving wolves as I do, can't help wanting for them

                                         Consideration

                                                    Respect

                                                            Preservation

        I hope you want this for wolves, too.




(This essay is from my latest book, "Words Far-Reaching:  Reflections" - 2013)