Hunting Poem by Ravi Kopra

Left alone as a guest
in her house in the morning,
her girl dogs barked
while I was behind the
closed bathroom doors.
They saw a flock of
white egrets ouside
the door in the yard.
They would coax me
to the door to let
them go out in the open
to chase the birds,
and I would not.

Still I let them
out in the back yard
to pee and relieve.
Their hunting instinct
took over them.
They ran all over
searching for birds.
I almost took my last
breath shouting at them
running after them
to get them back in the house.

Enough was enough.
I quarantied them -
locking them in the
storage room-for the day
and left the house
for their loving owner-mom
to come home to free them.

I have since then been checking
my pulse rate, my skipped heart
beats. And find myself still alive.

And have been wondering
how our urges, our instinticts
kill others and ourselves.

Many times, innocently.