![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/art-919069_1920-196x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
His hands work, flaying the hide from the deer,
\nparting the sinews that bind it to flesh
\nwith a stone-flake knife; murmuring apologies
\nand gratitude for the gift of its life.<\/p>\n
Dripping, he drapes it over his shoulders;
\nfeels the still-warm blood course down his spine,
\nfeels the weight of the antlered skull upon his brow,
\nfeels the wet sinews bind to his flesh.<\/p>\n
His hands clench to fists, become hooves, his spine
\ncontorts\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand then he races away through
\nthe woods, fleeing pursuers more deadly
\nthan any mere wolf.<\/p>\n
When he comes to rest in a cold camp,
\nfireless, he strips off the borrowed skin,
\nbut leaves the head in place\u00e2\u20ac\u201da mask with
\nsightless eyes, carved from flesh, and hard as bone.<\/p>\n
Wolves come, having scented wounded deer,
\nbut whine and press bellies to earth when they
\nmeet his lifeless eyes; they know he is no prey.
\nThey gather close and warm him until dawn.<\/p>\n
When his pursuers come too close, the wolves
\nbegin to howl, and the man puts back on his skin\u00e2\u20ac\u201d
\nflees as the wolves harass the men who pursue him.
\nAt sunset he returns to find their bodies, fletched.<\/p>\n
Weeping, he thanks them for their kindness,
\nand then his hands work once more,
\nseparating supple skin and soft fur,
\nsettling it over his shoulders once more.<\/p>\n
His nose touches earth; he catches the scent
\nof those who pursue him\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand this time
\nwhen he leaps from the brambles it is he
\nwho hunts for them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His hands work, flaying the hide from the deer, parting the sinews that bind it to flesh with a stone-flake knife; murmuring apologies and gratitude for the gift of its life. Dripping, he drapes it over his shoulders; feels the still-warm blood course down his spine, feels the weight of the antlered skull upon his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1670"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1674,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions\/1674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}