Conquest of Paradise

The Moon lit my way through the tall evergreens of this ancient, primeval, undisturbed wilderness as I made my way to the stream that I remember and now hear far off towards the rocks down wind of where I am. Fish, frogs and other smaller animals are plentiful and easy to catch. Life is so abundant that it hardly takes any time at all to fill my stomach.

A familiar voice is heard up the mountain slopes and I turn into the wind. This is the first Eden of my life, a pristine natural kingdom where many of my ancestors roamed before me. The howls of my compadra’s fill my being and I change my course.

I reach the path that leads north and I follow it up to the top of the small cliff. It’s an easy climb jumping the large roots and skirting the larger rocks that jet out of the forest floor. Well before I reached the top the voices pounce upon me and we frolicked in the underbrush, licking each others faces and pushing each other down the path we had just come from. Further up we travel until we reached the top. A large grassland lay before us and we dance in the moonlight as we have done so many times before.

It was a good night and now the sun is peaking through the forest tops, We find a cool spot to lay our bodies down. Some of the pack meander off , then return in no hurry to do anything but to be here and to sprawl out upon the forest floor. We listen while hundreds of creatures flutter overhead.  I don’t sleep, I cant remember a time where I ever did. I nod off again to the sounds of woodpeckers drumming their familiar music overhead as a herd of pigs pass through the clearing a quarter of a mile ahead of  us.  Five members of the pack lope off to see what trouble they can get into while others barely lift their large heads. Another night has come and gone and I lay around to wait for the moon to rise again. Its going to be a long day.