The Shepherd.

Some would just as soon eat their young
than cry wolf out loud,
rather than asking for help with some
problem they can't face.
Without
a little help, a little hope.
A pocket full of pills,
or a tightly-noosed rope.
Others would cry wolf before trouble even arrives.
Before the culprit commits the crime.
To make haste of the imperative,
to lay waste to the incentive.

Why cry 'wolf!' when you are the wolf?
You'd just as soon kill your own
than let your weakness be known.

Why scream 'run!', when you are the sheep?
A tattered fluff of white on the hillside by moonlight.

How could you know any better?
How could you know any better...
when you were never taught a different way,
when the sights you'd seen were the same you've seen today?
The same old scene, as old as tales can be;
an enduring tale received through tradition;
a classic tragedy.
Around the fire, you would learn of the wolf:
feared in the night, but banished in the light,
as if you were unable to be harmed;
and slowly, you become the sheep, going along to get along,
unaware of the real dangers in your life,
of the reality of the wolf's charms.

Its smile invites you.
Its tail hypnotizes you.
Its eyes enthrall you.
Its mind entraps you.
(Oh, what big teeth you have!)

But don't give in, despite the misinformation: you are strong;
don't let the words in your head, echoing, tell you any wrong-
because the truth is: every heart has a power of its own,
unable to be tapped into by outside forces joined together or risked alone.

Don't give into the arid, hazel-green light
reflecting from the eyes of the wolf
as the sun begins to give you sight through daylight,
don't let it talk you into its mouth;
and if it should wraps its jaws around you: struggle until you get out.

You're not the prey, but the hunted:
there is a difference.
The prey are caught; captured;
the hunted: are only chased after.
You may feel the teeth abrading the surface of your skin:
but be thankful, at least, that you can feel, and that the wolf cannot win.



You are not the sheep, but the Shepherd,
a voice going mostly unheard,
and the Shepherd watches all, and watches with great interest;
aware that the strength in mortal beings is worth the tactful distance.