PART I
LIKE A LANTERN IN THE NIGHT
Songs 1-4
1. OVERTURE
5:32
2.
dawning mountain
6:15
Unable, incapable, keep going
Find my way, find our role, find our bones
Drudge through, heavy footsteps, you are following
Step by step, prints made in the mud
Lowly levels, reach the top now
Follow me unknowingly into the valley
Deep down, criatura
Cold ice, broken in the air and ground
i’ll follow you,
yeah we all will,¹
From the mossy valley to the sun-kissed hill
I’ll follow you, as will we all
We’ll watch the whole thing rise or the damn thing fall
Mother maiden, dawning mountain
Reaching out into the feral countryside
1
Wolves, like humans, have complex family structures. Many of them have extended families, with parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers all living together. These families are commonly called “packs” composed of one mating pair, often referred to as the alpha male and female.
From the mossy valley to the sun-kissed hill
I’ll follow you, as will we all
We’ll watch the whole thing rise or the damn thing fall
Mother maiden, dawning mountain
Reaching out into the feral countryside
you need me, endure without me
i am willing to be your guide²
2
Within packs there are different hierarchical structures and each member has a different role: Alpha- parents and top of the pack, breeders, first responders to danger; Beta- mid ranking, peace makers, puppy sitters, teachers, guardians; Omega- bottom of the pack, comedian, loves to play, prevent fights.Blue eyes to pale golden
Fading mane, refining gray
A single fang can pierce the skin but
Stack it in a jaw of teeth it won’t decay³
3
Cooperative behavior — with extreme loyalty and devotion to family — characterizes successful wolf packs. They nurture their young and take care of their injured and sick family members.I’ll follow you, ‘til the creeks run red,
‘Til everyone we know is gone and dead
I’ll follow you, ‘til the stars burn black,
‘Til the universe expands and gets swallowed back
Follow me down
I’ll go with you, it has to be,
From the hunting party to catastrophe
I’ll stand with you, against the wind and wails,
We’ll send every creature here turning tail
I’ll be with you, I’ll hold you near,
Until every living thing has disappeared
I’ll walk with you, get lost with you,
We’ll wander this world and the next one too
follow me down⁴
4
The wolf howl is multifaceted. Sometimes a howl is a call for help or warning, a way to bond and communicate with other wolf packs, at other times, a howl is a call of solidarity and reunion and a joyful expression of being a wolf in the wild.Like humans in song, wolves harmonize (rather than howl all on one pitch) to give the illusion of greater numbers.3. interlude 1
(matriarchal words)
1:12
Mark my matriarchal words,⁵
Our path winds ahead
The strength of us lies within, alone we do not tread
Favored by the crusted snow, as we glide along
While cloven, like quick sand, drops beneath the roots
5
Although males are typically larger and stronger than females, it is often the alpha female that is in charge, guiding the family’s movements and activities to den sites, rendezvous sites, and hunting opportunities.our pack runs deep, our blood pedigree shows us the way
like a lantern in the night.⁶
6
Pack structure has enabled both wolf survival and the development of wolf culture with knowledge transfer, across generations. Older wolves share hunting strategies and techniques with younger wolves, passing down knowledge from one generation to the next, maintaining a culture unique to that pack. If pack members are lost to human hunters this cultural knowledge may be lost which may impact the survivability of the pack.
4.
blood lantern
4:03
sickness and
death in herds⁷
7
Chronic Wasting Disease is an always-fatal, prion, neurodegenerative disease that infects deer and elk, and can linger for years in the environment, making it difficult to control. Wolves appear to target sick animals that, to the human eye, exhibit no overt symptoms of disease. Thus, wolves may be our best natural defense against CWD.My pack will flush them out
Nothing but skin and bones
To feed our empty mouths
We’re passing to the urn
My kin will push them out
Nothing but wasted fur
To quench our barren mouths
They’re on the top, below you now
Even though you are wrought
With smoke and stone left them alone
To waste away for not
They’re on the top, below you now
Even though you are wrought
We will not let them retch and run
To waste away for not
We have the paws, the claws, the grip
To reach where you can not
They cannot hide or graze the side
Of hazy mountain tops
we have the paws,
the claws, the grip
to reach where you cannot
trophic in cascade
with the wolf
in ever rising crop⁸
We have the paws, the claws, the grip
To reach where you cannot
They cannot hide or graze the side
We have the paws, the claws, the grip
To reach where you cannot
Trophic in cascade with the wolf
8
Wolves are crucial to the maintenance of biodiversity. Trophic cascades are indirect ecological interactions, events in nature that move through multiple trophic feeding levels. Essentially, predators have effects that permeate food webs from the top down to the bottom. Wolves affect elk, elk affect vegetation, vegetation affects songbirds.