The Hunt

Lanterns almost white

against the blackness of the night,

carbide hissing, igniting

the burn of youthful desire.

Boys like miners thread

their way through the dense

undergrowth, listening

to the distant bay of hounds.

Raccoons scurry from tree

to tree, testing the dense foliage.

Climbing high, they hear danger

in canine cries, and their hearts

beat against the sudden stillness

of the night. The forest sniffs

acetylene burning and knows

its vulnerability as boots

crackle across the leaf-laid pattern

of the flooring. The imminence

of death drips against the earth's

elements, and life trembles

as the dogs move in to tree

their prey. A rifle cracks and the thump

of furred life descends in the false light

of reflected lamps and panting boys.