Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE COYOTE CHORUS by ANNE BIRDSALL

First Line: AT DUSK, WITHIN THE CANYON'S TOWERING GATE
Last Line: THAT TO THE HOUR ITS BENEDICTION LENDS.
Subject(s): COYOTES;
At dusk, within the canyon's towering gate,
Where twilight's purple shadows softly throng,
The gray waifs of the desert raise their song,
And in an evening anthem celebrate
The day's events. Those eerie notes to state
And life not of our age seem to belong,
But hold an echo of some primal wrong
Long-sealed in Doombook of the Wild Folk's fate.

One voice at lifts the weird, chuckling wail,
Until the distance-softened chorus full
With all the magic of the gloaming blends --
With lilac-shadowed peaks, and twittered hail
Of homing bird, and wood-sweet south-wind cool
That to the hour its benediction lends.



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