Is Also the Same as Why

“I sing to tell what’s on my mind,

When the birds go to sleep in mists.”

This is only a guess at what

The hill beasts may have been singing,

Precisely, helping each other

Along, not hunting each other

For sport, but sporting as their way

Of preparing themselves to hunt—

“I sing to tell what’s on my mind,

Drifting free, letting myself go.”

I’ve seen no satisfactory

Explanation for first person

In the mouth of a mountain beast,

But it’s there, so I translate it.

“I sing to tell what’s on my mind,

Ascending and roaming around.”

The beasts become more serious

And touch their noses to the ground.

Who knew their songs held poetry

Smuggled inside the suffering?

“I sing to tell what’s on my mind,

Living by eating the living.”