"The wolf of protection" By Ben Goode 2016 (c)

I envision my angel, is sometimes a wolf.
Following me loyally, on life's path.
Although I am not the Alpha.
I know I am part of their pack.
I feel their presence, spiritually.
Comforted by their protection.
Perhaps too complacent.
Relying too heavily, on their care.
And not caring about myself.
But there was a toll, which I realized.
In hospital.
Lying on a bed, run down, and exhausted.
Health left in doubt.
I wondered when I stopped caring?
And wondered if I ever did at all.
I pondered as nurses flurried around me, and I sometimes,
drifted into much needed sleep.
Wondering whether I was dreaming or not, it didn't matter.
Time seemed so irrelevant.
For the first time i was in no hurry.
And i was relieved.
How had I become so over-winded?
My own pendulum had faltered.
Time seemed to stand still.
My family had come for me, and I somehow almost forgot they existed.
Too caught up in my own swirl of thoughts.
I left later thinking how i had taken so much for granted.
The next day i was reminded once again of how things could have been.
Someone else, a stranger had not been so lucky..
A man lay lifeless on the side of the road.
Curious people crowded around him, reminded of their own mortality.
A shapeless form remained on the second look.
Haunted by the realization that life was not guaranteed.
No day was truly anybodies.
The day progressed, but there was one final reminder.
Too distanced in thought to see the obvious
Nearly taken into oblivion
A warning, of inattention.
My own life nearly lost from a dumb decision.
A bus narrowly missing me.
Too many close calls.
Things had to change.
I knew I had to be more careful.
Maybe fate wouldn't be so kind next time.
The wolf, that angel, that offers protection,
may not always follow.