The Hunter

Oh do not look at me as though I am the beast I am not the wolf that tears with teeth I am not the bear that takes without thought I am a man I carry no claws I carry no fangs Only iron and knowledge Only hands that built kingdoms from the earth Oh I am civilized I have names for my actions I have reasons for my choices I have words to make the blood sound cleaner It is not killing It is hunting It is not taking It is harvesting It is not destruction It is progress Oh the forest does not understand such things The trees cannot read my laws The rivers cannot hear my reasons The animals cannot understand my purpose So how could they judge me I take the deer because I can I take the rabbit because I can I take the beauty of the forest And place it upon my walls A memory A trophy A proof that I was here Oh do not confuse me with the creatures beneath the branches They kill because hunger calls their name They take because winter waits for no one But I... I take because I desire And desire is different Is it not? Oh the forest grows quiet when I speak The birds stop singing The leaves stop dancing Strange Perhaps they are listening Or perhaps they are mourning Oh I have always said I am above the animals That I am more than instinct That I am more than hunger But tell me little forest If the wolf kills to feed its family If the bear takes to survive the cold If the fox lies because the world demands it Then what am I When I destroy without need When I take without hunger When I call myself righteous because I created a word for it Oh perhaps I was never the hunter Perhaps I was only the creature That learned to hold a weapon And convinced itself That the weapon made it human...