Leaders Of The Pack Poem by Denis Martindale

At first, the two wolves look the same
As others in the pack,
Yet in their hearts there burns a flame
That flares when they attack,
For Nature calls upon each one
To hunt when hunger strikes,
Then wolves beneath the setting sun
Do what nobody likes...

Survival's played out day and night
Beneath the sun and moon
That watch on high while creatures fight
And leave their bodies strewn,
Yet those that live must strive again
For hunger soon returns
And leaders know the moment when
The flame inside them burns...

The savage beasts outlive the doomed,
The helpless and the frail,
And though successes aren't assumed,
The leaders rarely fail,
For such as these are born not made
And conscience holds no sway,
For wolves are wolves when all is weighed
And all the world's their prey...


Denis Martindale, copyright, March 2011.

The poem is based on the magnificent painting
by Stephen Gayford called 'Leaders Of The Pack'.

More Stephen Gayford poems here:
denis-martindale-dot-blogspot-dot-com