A Moment
With the Gods

KIFARU!

by g.l. bass

(the ghostbear still lives!)

 

Dark gray thunderclouds

Slide down out of the mountains.

An umbrella, their deep wrinkled faces

Glide across Lake Nakuru

As red sun dies into

The horizon.

A ribbon of pink reflects

Against echoes of Flamingo

Voices and distant thunder.

You can hear rain splatter

Off the tops of the forest,

Moving in sheets it sings

Away the heat

At the end Of the day.

Herds of Buffalo and

Gatherings of Gazelles,

Welcome an African  rain.

Rhino's -Kifaru-

Dance and spar

In the joy of the rain .

The end of the lake

Is now their domain .

Their body boxing,

Snorting and heavy gallop,

Like the cloud voices,

Sound across the lake,

An ancient song of Africa,

It resounds up the cliffs

And climbs into the red storm.

Rhino at play demand

The attention of the day.

Gods of the lake,

Four Rhino test

Their ancient heritage,

Their muscle,

Their massive bulk,

Unchallenged,

Their play breaks up mud

And Earth.

Dust spirals spin devils

Against rain and the setting sun.

Now, a deep dark eye beneath clouds,

It and I pause in amaze

As we watch the end of the day,

And the Rhino Gods in play.

Purely without intent,

A teenage female

Brushes the front rack

Of the Land Rover,

I am knocked

From my perch

Back down inside the truck.

She but pauses,turns,

And in quick glance

Let's me know,

I'm a visitor in her world,

A spectator to

The Rhino way of life,

But an annoyance

To the practice of

Rhino turf ways.

Humbled,

I stand in the rain,

Laugh,

Pay then homage,

And understand

Life only yields you

So many brief moments

In the company of

Earth's Gods-

Kifaru!

You have been my joy,

My enlightement,

And my blessing this African day.

 

We venture our way

Back around the Lake

In the rain and the dark.

Wet, mud splattered,

Jolted,

I am humbled

To be part of this time.

Beauty,

Both surreal and sublime,

Has been mine.

The only thing on my mind

Is capturing moments

In the moment's time ,

Before this day

Slides into dream,

And before the Gods

Become Ghosts

Again.

glb-

9/2005

 

 

 

 

 

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