Mysterious Sounds & a Song from my Heart

February 22, 2020 by JoAnna 19 Comments

 

Our Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday was “animal sounds.” “Write about the sounds animals make and how you experience them. Have fun!”

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It was after midnight. I went out onto the balcony to look at the stars. The darkness was thick like a wool blanket over our mountain hideaway. A few stars peeked out through the evergreen trees. Cool, fresh air filled my lungs and tingled my face and hands.

Then I heard it. It sounded like a duck quacking at first. Then there was a screeching, snarling noise below, maybe fifty feet away. Were the two sounds from the same animal? Were two animals fighting. Was something hurt? I didn’t want to think about that. I waited and the same noise came again, both noises right after each other suggesting it came from the same animal.

Over the next few minutes, the noise repeated. The quacking diminished and the snarling increased.

I would have loved to have heard a wolf howl, or even a coyote. Or a bear grunting. A wolf would be better. When I was five years old my dad was stationed at the naval base on Newfoundland, Canada. We lived on base near some hills where wolves would howl at night. I don’t remember this well, at least not consciously, but oh how I would have appreciated this more much later in life.

After a while, the noise did not come back and the chill sent me back inside. I never found out what animal or animals made that sound. I’ll listen for it when we visit the mountains again.

Years ago, I wrote a song. It was back in high school, kind a corny maybe, but heartfelt. The song was about extinction. I added a stanza more recently, but for some reason, I don’t know where I put the words. I wonder if I can remember it now. I’ll try.

Once you could see

a million brown deer

We knew they’d be here for us

a l w a y s…… a l w a y s

Once you could see

the birds in the sky

We knew they would fly for us

a l w a y s…… a l w a y s

(bridge/guitar solo)

You can still see the birds

You can look, even feel

And they seem almost real

Yet somehow out of place

In their polished glass case.

And the deer in the park

stumble in the dark

And they seem kinds lame

But no one takes blame

For their blindness.

(Here’s the new part:)

Once we could hear

the wolf and the whale

Their voices would sail to us

a l w a y s…… a l w a y s.

But the wolf and the whale

No longer cry

They’re just stars in the sky.

No one stands by

For the singing.

(bridge/guitar)

Still we can see

the birds in the sky

We pray they will fly, always.

Still we might see

A million brown deer

We pray they’ll be here, always.

Still we can hear

the wolf and the whale

May wisdom prevail for them

a l w a y s…… a l w a y s……

© Joanne Macco, aka joannaoftheforest

 

Hard to explain with no editing. I don’t remember if all these words are what I originally wrote, but it’s pretty close. On the guitar, I use chords …. wait let me check…. E, Em, and another chord I don’t know the name of in the beginning. Then there’s a bridge into the sad parts with G, D, A, and Em. Then back to the first chords for the hopeful part.

Dang. I didn’t write about Doodle howling when I tuned my guitar. But you can imagine.

I miss Doodle bug.

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For more animal sounds in the stream of consciousness, and the rules for #SoCS,

visit Linda’s blog:

https://lindaghill.com/2020/02/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-feb-22-2020/

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