La Louve Et L'Autour - A Love Story Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

La Louve Et L'Autour - A Love Story

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It was a very dark night. Stillness in the air,
cool damp caressing the skin, faint sounds
plaintiff-like, touching the ears.
La Louve was moving quietly, effortlessly
through the forest. An urge in her step
and her posture was one of being in control.

She was breathing normally, eyes glistening
and ears alert. A picture of power, like a
compressed spring, ready to uncoil on demand.
And this night La Louve covered
a lot of territory, from the edge of
one forest across barren highlands
to another forest. Here, the undergrowth
dominated, the trees appeared stunted
but stocky and the going was tough.

A sudden faint noise, a few paces ahead
and La Louve lunges forward, propelled by
sinewy haunches, made of powerful muscles.
She can see the rabbit, long ears, hopping madly,
scared out of its wits, trying to outrun its destiny.

WHOOOOSH --a sudden strange sound
descends and La Louve smashes headlong
into a seemingly moving obstacle.

Momentary chaos, confusion, ruffled feathers.
Other animals in the forest later were fond of
telling the story again and again to their children
and to each other.

It seems that La Louve was, technically,
already in possession of the rabbit, say
a rabbit's foot away but that, from the sky above,
Monsieur L'Autour, the hawk, who looked
quite different, lived at lofty heights
in a foreign territory but had many
of the same tastes as did La Louve,
L'Autour had been in lightning-like descent
at over 300 km/hour. Target destination:
Rabbit. Estimated time of impact: Seconds.

The sudden tête-à-tête was traumatic
due to the excess speed of l'Autour
as well as to the rather soft spot that
La Louve possessed on top of the bony cave
that contained her three essences of life:
Mind, spirit and soul.

They were not bound by convential laws and,
together, they represented a formidable power,
a force accountable only to creation itself.

L'Autour who would ordinarily dismiss
an incident such as this as a nuisance
caused by scheming spirits, saw that he
had made a dent in the soft spot of
La Louve in the collision.He used the
down feathers from under his chest to wipe up
the blood and soon found himself worrying
about this forest creature's welfare.
In a flash he realised that he had taken
an instant liking to this furry thing and that he,
much to his surprise, was actually enjoying
his role and the things it made him do.
Not knowing what to do next and still worried
about the subdued status of La Louve he
just sat there, one foot on a twig, the other leg
carefully resting against the back of
the she-wolf for balance.

And he caught himself inhaling her scent.
And he breathed deeply and calmly.
And her scent was so pleasant that
he found it difficult to think about anything else.
So he sat and he sat until the stunned
La Louve stirred.
She opened her eyes and looked intensely at
L'Autour. It was a long, friendly look and went deep
into his soul. And L'Autour just sat there.

And the night gave way to the cool freshness
of the morning. The two victims of the collision
had still not moved much and, to all the
other animals of this part of the forest, it appeared
that something magical was in their midst.
They sensed the creation of a natural bond
of the three essences of life of two living beings.
So they showed respect by toning down
their busy-body forest noises and
by leaving the two alone.

Later, for many moons, La Louve and L'Autour
were sometimes seen meeting in the forest.
Either they were hunting or they were just enjoying each other's company.
You could say holding hands.

And after thousands of years, it is said
that they remained friends although each
remained in their own territory,
as the Gods had ordained.

Today, one can check out this story by
going to that part of the universe and by
asking the wise old owl.
This bird is not a bird in reality,
she is a composite of the four essences of life:
Body, Mind, Spirit and Soul.
And that makes the wise owl immortal and
thus ideally placed to know almost everything.

And, when you ask the wise old owl about
La Louve and L'Autour she will say:
'Oh those two, a peculiar pair they are,
that's for sure.
But they truly seem to like each other's company.'

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Mahnaz Zardoust-Ahari 09 August 2005

And, when you ask the wise old owl about La Louve and L'Autour she will say: 'Oh those two, a peculiar pair they are, that's for sure. But they truly seem to like each other's company.' I like these last lines...they say alot in so few words.....Good write Herbert!

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Terry B 09 August 2005

I so enjoyed reading this...magical and beautiful. You're a superb story teller/writer. Very well done.

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