Night Children, by Sterling Warner

Mowgli, from The Second Jungle Book, by John Lockwood Kipling (England) 1895

Night Children
 
primeval twilight
cultivates diverse spirits
tiger stripes orphans
 
Aravalli Range wolf packs
foster feral girls and boys 
abandoned city dwellers
embraced by canid surrogates
that nuzzle orphaned babes, 
comfort flailing arms, warm bare feet, 
sing hairless naïve pups asleep 
 
wild jungle youngsters
walk upon four limbs like paws
knees and elbows scarred
 
innocents untamed howl 
at the moon join furry brethren
wailing, growling, celebrating  
until early dawn’s symphony hushes 
the lupine choir which shifts its 
attention to nurturing foundlings…
tutoring young Mowglis to hunt and play
 
spiritual Lycans
welcome the lunar allure 
crave transformation

​Sterling Warner

A Washington-based author, poet, educator, and Pushcart Nominee, Sterling Warner’s works have appeared in such literary magazines, journals, and anthologies as the Danse Macabre, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Ekphrastic Review, and Sparks of Calliope. Warner’s volumes of poetry include Rags and Feathers, Without Wheels, ShadowCat, Edges, Memento Mori, Serpent’s Tooth, Flytraps: Poems, “Cracks of Light: Pandemic Poetry & Fiction, Halcyon Days: Collected Fibonacci (2023) and Abraxas (2024)--as well as Masques: Flash Fiction & Short Stories.  He currently writes, hosts “virtual” poetry/fiction readings, and enjoys fishing and boating along the Hood Canal.