A wild coyote roams her forest home she knows every rock and leaf
but when she comes to a clearing her sharp eyes see what she could only describe as a golden retriever tied to a short metal tree
The coyote approached crouched and tail tucked the retriever bowed down with its ears perked way up
“I like your tail! Its tip looks dipped in black ink.”
the retriever wagged
“Well I like your coat, it's soft like the old shepherd’s fleece.”
The coyote grinned
Grinned and wagged
Wagged and grinned
“Why are you tied to a metal tree?”
“Oh that's because of my owner you see.”
“My owner is not good so I have been told but I have been with him since I was a day old.
I am loyal to him, but I don't want to be. I wish I was like you, strong, wild, and free.”
“Well my golden friend, why not flee?”
“Because I'm domestic, it’s how I need to be, but maybe one day I'll gain the strength to be free.”
“What if I showed you how to be free? Spend your days in the yard then your evenings with me! You should not be confined to a short metal tree.”
So that's just what they did. During the day the coyote would howl plans from across the tree line awaiting her new friend's reply and when the sun fell, the two would meet and run around the retriever's suburban street.
With a quick trip to the forest, the retriever was introduced to the Coyote's pack happy howls and barks at her arrival.
The two rested in the forest alone for a week straight sharing gestures reserved only for mates.
Domestic and wild, canine and dog surely we know this won't last long. The coyote knew deep in her soul that her domestic friend would never leave her so called “home”
For every night spent running free through the forest was a day of anguish at the hands of an owner and a collar.
And each time the coyote would plead,
“Come stay in the forest, with me you'll be free”
“My love, I'm domestic it's how I have to be”
It made the coyote pace, whimper, and growl.
The anguish that came from this new love she'd found.
She’d share her food, her wisdom, her love but for the retriever it was never enough.
The coyote thought to herself at the dead of night
“She just needs time it will all be alright”
“She loves you she said so herself”
“So why do I not feel like myself?”
The winds blew colder when the retriever was near and the leaves rustled hymns the coyote had not heard in years
Not since a betrayal that scarred her so deep.
The coyote begged to the forest that these signs were false but the trees had decided, it was time to tear down her rose colored walls.
When the coyote first heard it she couldn't even speak let alone let her true feelings be known.
She grinned and bared all the lies that spilled from those puppy dog eyes.
Love to another who hurts like an infestation of fleas
The same type of love the coyote had received.
“Why did you do this? I thought you loved me.”
“My dear i'm domestic, it's how i have to be”
The coyote stood tall and backed away from the retriever's metal tree
For you dear Retriever the case that may be, but that is certainly not the way for me. My pack, my freedom, my splendor, and glee, they were all earned because I chose to flee. I was once like you and for another addressed on bended knee fully believing the lies she told me. But only when I left for my own sanity, did I ever truly become happy. A lesson not learned and may never be, but if you do, there I cannot be.”
The retriever bowed her head and whined, slipping her collar over her muzzle and eyes.
And with that the coyote turned away back to her pack and her forest ready for a new day.