Far From Home

Where has the sea gone to,

Beyond the trees that block my sight,

The world is not the one I, Takaya, knew,

Nothing here is sound nor right.

Scents and memories linger within,

Where once I had nothing to lack,

For otter, seal, eagle and whale were my kin,

The great abyss forever my pack.

Why did they have to take me away,

Far from the island I sense ahead,

Did they truly fear a wolf by their bay,

Where once my ancestors did tread.

Now here I am far from the known world,

Lost and confused in the unknown,

My journey back will not be curbed,

By neither raven sneer nor harsh wolf tone.

Then came the gun and its violent attack,

And my world turned cold and black.

-Brock Beal

A Haiku for Takaya

-Carol Pallman, Victoria B.C.

Takaya

“I am wolf, wild and free

Look into my eyes, what do you see?

I want what you want, nothing more

Family, food and a home by the shore.

I am wild, so just witness me

I live in sync with land and sea.

Kill me for pleasure but what do you gain?

I seek only peace, yet you often give pain.

I am wolf, wild and real

Look into my eyes, what do you feel?

Can you see our connection upon this earth?

Please understand that we all have worth.

Look into my eyes, what do you see?

I want coexistence, so please see me.”

-Cheryl Alexander

Poem for Takaya

Sue Belcher, England, U.K.

Takaya’s Song

You walk all alone, this is your island home

Safe and sound, no one to track you down

But something has been calling and you know you cannot stay

This island life is lonely and it’s time to get away

Lone wolf I can hear you cry

You are all alone out there

Lone wolf I can hear you cry

This life that you were meant to share

Your calls go unanswered as your search goes on and on

The drive to find your soul mate, she hasn’t heard your song

You could not have known the danger, how could you have known

The blood lust from the hunter, he wants to put you down

Lone wolf I can hear you cry

You are all alone out there

Lone wolf I can hear you cry

This life that you were meant to share

You stepped into his sights and your fate was sealed that day

When he fired his gun that hit the mark and stole your life away

The sadness that I feel for the life that won’t be lived

The man who took your life, I don’t see how I can forgive

Lone wolf I can hear you cry

You are all alone out there

Lone wolf I can hear you cry

This life that you were meant to share

I can still see you running, running through the trees

Your voice has been silenced and I no longer hear your pleas

A ghost in the forest, your soul still lingers there

Your life taken from you, it just seems so unfair

Lone wolf, I can’t hear you cry

You’re no longer out there

Lone wolf, why’d you have to die

The life that you will never share

Lone wolf can you hear me cry

-Jeremy Leete

Takaya

What made you set out on your own

On a trail that had already grown so cold

What was it hurt you to the core, or was there more

It made you lose how life had been

Nothing left to fill the gaps up in between

To take the path alone unseen, you’re so serene

CHORUS

Takaya takaya

You were never born to be alone

Without a friend to call your own

The miles and miles of roads behind you

As you made the only way you knew

Water kissed your feet upon the shore, it called you o’er

To swim the miles to your new home

With nothing there to stop you being all alone

And yet you chose to stay there by yourself, with little else

BRIDGE

For one so gentle

You are thought to be so wild

I know you’re blameless

You wouldn’t harm a child

And when you left here

It came as some surprise

The others just didn’t see

The trust within your eyes

SOLO

Seven long years have passed us by

What made you leave here, made you say goodbye

Was someone calling to you out loud, or were you lured

Caught as you slept the night away

Taken somewhere that you & I can never say

May you come back here again some day, I hope and pray

FINAL CHORUS

Takaya takaya

You were never born to be alone

Without a friend to call your own

Takaya takaya

Looks like you’re never coming home

Have you found a friend to call your own

Cause you were never born to be alone

But I sure do miss you now you’re gone

-Mike Reynolds, Scotland, U.K.

Poem

I am Takaya

I am here to roam

I am free and alone

Along this terrain

Is where I’ll remain

With the light of dawn

To the stillness of dusk

Through the darkness of the night

With the stars shining bright

I am my own pack

I am at peace with this land

Though I howl and long

For a mate to attract

I wait

As I hunt for my prey

Throughout night and day

 I instinctively know

When dangers at bay

I have eyes that are keen

And when I am seen

Know that;

I am Takaya, the Lone Wolf,

Roaming and free.

by Madalann

Takaya, Lost Wolf

We’ve often dreamed of the day,
Where our eyes would meet.
Along the coast somewhere,
The ocean smelling sweet.

We saw us locking in gaze,
With trust beyond belief.
Our hearts filled oh so full,
Full, of great relief.

Just knowing you were out there,
Gave us a sense of peace.
And now your senseless murder,
Has brought so much to cease.

We are all left feeling gutted,
Yet still, we’re here alive.
Visions of your freedom,
Running though our minds.

We want to seek revenge for you,
To stand up strong and fight.
We want to help you through this,
And set the future right.

Your death must bring a change here,
For others of your kind.
The memory of your magic, friend,
Will not be left behind…

by Victoria Erica Mitchell

Takaya Thoughts

Safe crossover to the other side, sweet wolf.

I’m thinking of your grace these last few days.

I’m sorry it had to end like it did.

I’m sorry for the way in which it so often ends when our kinds meet.

My kind has forgotten the common language we both speak.

Fear makes us forget.

I’m sorry the trust you had in us betrayed you in the end.

Thank you for speaking away the fear.

Sometimes even the strongest of bodies cannot survive bullets. No one can kill a spirit like yours.

All the sunsets you watched from those arbutus bluffs overlooking the strait, those stay with you.

I saw a wolf who held oceans of peace inside of him.

I felt that.

Stay wild, sweet wolf.

Keep speaking away the fear.

Second Thoughts

One day under an arbutus sky, I saw a wolf who held oceans of peace inside of him.

This doesn’t mean his teeth aren’t capable of tearing flesh.

It means us beasts who live on this earth cannot be measured by such destructive scales as good and bad.

I mean to say I met a creature who stilled the chaos of my humanity. Just by stumbling upon him as he daydreamed on a bed of moss.

One day, I saw a wolf and through him I knew what it is to feel at peace.

Rest in peace, dear wolf. Oceans of it.

April Bencze, Victoria B.C.

Breathless

In shades of gray and shadows tall
You are by men judged most of all.

For in their path to fortunes gained
And with a knack for reckless aim
They choose to silence, maim and flee
And leave the scars the blind won’t see,
As they refuse to hear the message
That understands the need your life has
To prove that what’s beneath the surface
Is rich in spirit not for purchase.

Devoid of grace their mission senseless
The woodland’s keeper left defenseless.

In remembrance and appreciation of Takaya, a misjudged and misunderstood yet magnetic free spirit whose enigmatic and seemingly carefree life was cut short.

-C.S. Mowgli

Acrostic Poem

-Kathrin Schlender

Takaya

A Sea Wolf’s Reckoning

 dedicated to Cheryl Alexander

Unlike your average wolf

I have swum from the city

To a wooded island

By the genius of television

My habitat has swum 

Into your homes

By the dedication of a photographer

My nature matters

She knows I pose no threat and why I roam

By my howling from a rock on the shore

I have intimated my desire  

For a companioned life and more

By owning my hunger

I have unsleeved the sweet body of this baby seal

Not that one and that one and that one, as they who cull,

For self-sufficiency has taught me 

Sufficiency

I am a very handsome wolf she says -

Neither blushing nor dissenting

I am conscious only of my ways

And even if you dig my looks

Then also recognise my intentions

Are strictly honourable towards your kind

Yet when you breached my range

With forbidden dogs 

In a lupus moment trust was undermined

Prowling closer you captured my curiosity

Storied me as threat

Her campaign thwarting unjust death

Reprieved to thrive again in my adoptive place

Where our communing and her lens

Give untold face

Until I ventured into town on the scent

Of a female of my own and aroused

By the aroma of your food

Alleging danger, you crated me

To re-wild far from my territory

Amid competitors, predators, hostility

By a stream where beautiful Diana bathed

In unfamiliar and portentous woods

Like her, my photographer, protecting me 

But he was no Actaeon 

Who would not a stag become

To lure the huntsman’s dogs

But a gun

And I, Takaya, in a shot undone

Know this my friends: the howling will not cease

Before your kind determines we are none

This poem is ©copyrightGregSpiroOctober2020

all rights reserved gregm31@me.com