Slow Smoke/Colloquy with a Coyote
COLLOQUY WITH A COYOTEKi-yoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo!
Speak now, O coyote, rumped upon the knoll! Into the bowl of desert night— Clinking and cool with stars—oh, roll The melancholy of your soul. When sentimental with the moon, you cry Your longing to the lady in the sky, Know that you do not grieve for her, alone, That your deep yearning, sprung from blight Of solitude, is tallied by my own. Speak then, O coyote, speak for me; With your seductive melody cajole The lovely one to be more intimate, invite Her to linger for a moment of delight. The virgin, you, and I—we threeOn such a night should be more neighborly.
In the homeland whence I came, a solitude Dark with its regiments of lancing pine That march from peak to water-line, I knew another spokesman for my mood— Oh, he was suave, ingratiating, shrewd! When balsams muffled their voices in the cowl Of sable dusk, and tranquil, cool, The beaver-pond was but a chip Of silver, soundless, save for the flip Of a beaver's tail, the flapping of an owl— On such a night as this, When the silver-lady put a kiss Upon the bosom of the pool, The gibbering loon, disconsolate, forlorn, Flinging upon the sky a rain Of silver tones, the tremolo of pain— Would always gain her ear and mourn For me, befriend me; ah, the loonAnd I!—we had an understanding with the moon.
Speak then, O desert coyote, speak for me now.Be to me kinsman in this valley of the dead, This waste so unfamiliar, so dispirited. Among the buffalo-skulls upon the brow Of yonder butte, fling back your head,And stabbing moonward with your wail, impart Our sorrow till it breaks the vestal's heart; Tell the indifferent one that she is beautiful, As lovely and as cool As a peeled willow bough;Request the lady to leave off her gownOf clouds, and ask her to come down . . .
Ki-yoo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo!