Pain Knows the Wolf

I should have broken my back by now
with my lupine spine, 
feet screaming as if in a wolf trap. 
My outrage prowls the low valley
searching the arid land for water 
to slack the thirst,
the howl inside.
Once there was real silence
but no answer.
Now, rage is my lone truth.
The lamb has been eaten.
Nothing stays in my broken jaw.
What is caught just slips away.
The times are always lean
for those who howl alone.