thehornedwitch:

There’s a wolf in the woods, the old people said.

More than one, every year, there’s a wolf in the woods.

She’ll eat you, he’ll break you, they’ll get up inside you

And tear your pink insides by the light of the moon.

Some young people, curious, frolicked with wolves

And danced with the shape-shifted friends they had known

Wearing skins more their own than pink flesh ever was

And pretended, come morning, they’d never left home.

There’s a wolf in the woods, the new old people said

Who once had run till the thorns tore their feet

Their memories warped to recall rapid chases

Instead of a frolick leaving mud on their sheets.

Every year there were children who never came home

Who’s clothes found abandoned would be mourned aloud

Who’s parents could not understand what was done

And rallied a ravenous crowd.

“We’ll kill them, we’ll kill them.” Each year it was said

And as was predicted they’d all leave their homes

And left, all at once, and they always assumed

They got every beast with blade and with stone.

But there always, forever, are wolves in the woods.

Children learning the ways of tooth and of claw

Growing up and away from their stringent old roles

Who would rather be beast with blood on their maw.

There will always be people who are not like you

There will always be us, and we will terrify

We will run and be wild under stars, chase the wind

We will be anything, and forever defy

No one can take the wolf from a child

That found themselves othered each day of their life

They’ll eat you up whole and spread their great joy

Of teeth and of claws as sharp as your knife.

Your children are better off wolves in the woods

You should learn to find love in their howling

Take a walk and see the joy in their eyes

And join us in glorious calling.