Cervus elaphus nelsoni
Life (Elk Speaks)
Each baby matters, is precious, just like any baby of
anything is, and from birth on, every minute is something
to celebrate and too soon needing to pay attention beyond
the milk and body heat to the meaning of flat and steep,
sound in nose and throat to recognize as language to know
and follow, smell to warn and beckon, and taste in all its glory where even bark has its important cellulose to savor (poor willow and aspen), no need to keep on guard, so few cougars, so great the herd. Stories from the north still tell of wolves and their
peskiness, “thinning” (as they call it) the least able of us,
doing the family a service (such a “human trait”),
but their howls now out of earshot, near the Wyoming border,
or so the eagle tells. Border? I guess a fence makes sense
unless there isn’t one, and then it’s up to the government
to say where our sole predator can and cannot slay us
(and it ain’t at Nicky’s on Comedy Night). The human race.
Race? What about “Species”? Are there no more than Sapiens? “Scourge” is more like it, I suppose, but how would I really know, I’m only one year old! But, to hear an old doe talk, we’d better look for more no good to come, even beyond all the (How many
visitors pass every year?) good intentions to restore “balance”.
(Ha! Not until they can make the rain!) Have you ever heard
Def Leopard wailing at one of their 4th of July camping spots?
A ranger can only do so much, what with the sweet smell of gasoline and antifreeze, and fire to chase us down the mountain, and snow to hold us tight until the longer arcing of the sun brings more of us along, and leaves some others of us behind.
Yes, the steady hum of spring is worth every rising decibel,
noise a small price to pay for this amazing place to play.
Michael Knisely
