Once Upon A Time

Once, long ago and far away nature spoke

with candid confidence to a pack of wolves

she favoured, her tone one of exasperated

resignation as she told them of a species she

had created which adamantly refused to get

along with one another, much less with other

species. And she explained too how suggestible

they were and though aggressive, malleable.

She sent them on their way and they proceeded

to befriend the otherwise distant and friendless

group with whom they had little in common.

But in so doing, they charmed and bedazzled

the naked bipedal species, fractious between

themselves but receptive to the kindly overtures

of the wolves who offered to protect them in

exchange for sharing the warmth of their

fires and the food cooked over those fires, a

covenant that has lasted from the primeval to

the present. Canines patiently taught humans

to interpret the language of their desires and

needs and to leash their companions the better

to defend them from onslaughts from unknown

sources, allowing them to play and to eat and

to sleep with their furry protectors whose lack

of presence in their lives would be unthinkable.