LAST CALL OF THE WILD

It’s been a long wait.
But I didn’t have to travel far.
Not much more than fifty yards
From the house.

In 1973, Peter Matthiessen
Journeyed to Nepal for a glimpse
Of a Snow Leopard. 
He didn’t see one.

But his companion did.
Peter wrote a beautiful book
About his failed quest - 
Full of poignant regret.

I have run the neighborhood
Trails at twilight and at dawn
Under oaks where cougars perch
Waiting to pounce on their prey.

But I had never seen a mountain lion.
No doubt they saw me.
But they decide when they will
Be seen by us humans.

Having been alerted by the 
Anxious skittering 
Of a doe and her three fawns
Running for their lives…

…Fleeing to the right
I looked to the left:
A mountain lion, alert but
Stock still, at the edge of the drive.

I was in the meadow early
Weeding dried thistle and mustard.
I saw its coat draped over a muscled frame
The color of the pale grasses in which it stood.

I eyed its long tail, dipping
To the ground; its black eyes locked on mine
Before it nonchalantly turned away
Towards a line of dense brush…

 …Which marks the foot of a slope 
That serves as the site’s eastern flank:
Finally, visceral confirmation that we share
This wildland with its apex predator.

In The Snow Leopard
Peter Matthiessen’s companion
Was the biologist George Schaller.