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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 |