The wonder of night
Trespassed upon the earth once
Leaving starlight trails.
And heaven looked down
At reflections below and
Saw eternity.
A double haiku to wonder at the magic of night.
Words and picture copyright Englepip©
Africa
Daily Prompt: Cheetah
Somehow I knew you would come
The premonition tingled in my brain
Like a scratching at the base of my skull
Saying wait: it will happen; something special.
Too long spent in the truck, travelling the dirt roads
Concentrating the eye on distant shadows
Which turned out to be termite mounds.
Thirsty, hot, tense and tired
Eyes clouded with dust
Turn back they said; enough
And as we turned
I knew. I knew to stop
And we did.
Maybe I could hear it in the silence of the bush
Primeval senses scenting you on the wind.
Or maybe your spirit met with mine
Your fierce dominance stealing into my heart.
For suddenly there you were;
You and your cubs.
A regal mother; a proud mother
Marshalling your offspring
For parade.
We sat in stillness, afraid to break the magic
Admiring the closeness of the moment
And they gambled round your paws
Mewing for attention.
A signal from you and they stepped in line
As you leapt upon the bonnet of the truck
Meeting my eye; a moment of blind trust
A nod at the spirit that joined us.
And so we sat
Motionless
Until you had scouted the horizons
And we our fill of the thrill
Of this closeness.
And suddenly, with alacrity, you were down,
With a last salute to our shared moment,
Your tear-marked face and waving tail
Commanded your little troop
To move off to do battle with the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking aim, I took a shot
And clicked.
For memories are held in such photos.
Photo from a live screenshot via Africam. Words and shot copyright to Englepip©
Although the above photo is from a screenshot, the incident itself is based on truth. We were travelling in Samburu National Park, Kenya when I had a premonition which persuaded us to stop after a tiring day. I knew we were about to see something very special – what – I did not know, but this moment will stay with me forever. Unfortunately my camera work at the time was not successful but I can still see the whole thing in my mind and I was so fortunate to see this cheetah and its cubs on a live camera on Africam.
Daily Prompt: At the Waterhole
They congregate at the waterhole
The young; the old; the grey; the brown
Each overcoming their fears
To slake their thirst in a dry land.
Warily they move forward,
The pressure from the one behind
Urging them forward into vulnerability
Afraid to miss their place in the line
To be overtaken by the lesser
In the pecking order.
Still they move forward
Treading carefully where they can
Listening for something not quite right
For the bark of warning and the grunt
Of the elders, pushing them forward
Into the mud, where hooves will be sucked down
Sucked into the swamp
That surrounds the waterhole
Sucked and stuck so that the lions will
Be bound to have a meal.
Luckily today there is no kill
Luckily today lions already had their fill
Luckily today they lived all day.
But what about tomorrow?
Words and photo copyright Englepip©
Daily Prompt: Rubes versus city slickers
1.
an unsophisticated person from a rural area; hick.
I don’t know if poverty produces rubes
Or if they just exist because they are
Unaffected, innocent, not classy
Living in the country.
Perhaps there are no rubes in Africa
Perhaps there is just
Money and no money.
Food and no food.
Clothes and making do.
Perhaps the unsophistication
Is borne out of hard physical labour
With no time to loll about
As wastrels laughing at others
And tricking them out of the little they have.
In the country living is hard
Transport is little and you must
Walk and carry and work to exist
Trusting others to help
Because your survival
Depends upon it.
Perhaps the city slickers
Are scarred, damaged and hard
Replacing the warmth of village life
With meanness and materialism.
But perhaps their sophistication
Is enviable; perhaps not.
Perhaps innocence is praiseworthy;
Perhaps not.
Maybe we just have to exist separately.
And try not to insult each other.
It is the first time I have come across the word rube. I immediately thought which pictures I might have of unsophisticated people from a rural area and I found this shot from my time in Africa. There is poverty everywhere in Africa but the difference between city slickers and countryside dwellers is most noticeable when country people move to the city and get taken advantage of.
Words and photo by Englepip copyright ©
Daily Prompt: Night time safari
At first, the darkness of Africa is dense and dreadful
But for the stars above; pinpricks in the velvet night
There is no moon and the echoing bark of a nyala
Gives warning; there is movement in the bush.
Senses alert, my spine tingles in anticipation
The screech of a nagapie carries on the breeze
Like the doleful cry of an injured child
And I am mindful to resist the temptation
To run wildly into the inky black, to its rescue.
We sit and we wait; the cicadas, chirp
A constant whistling buzz; mosquitoes whine
A smell of damp earth, and fear.
And then we hear it, a rustle of leaves
A rumble in the darkness that vibrates within.
There it is again from the other side.
And slowly, shapes come lumbering out
From the bush to the waterhole – and I can see
Grey shapes conjured in a grey landscape
Lumbering large but oh so quietly
Dipping trunks into the liquid ink of the pool.
A snort, and the dripping back of water
And a noise like an emptying sink as
They gurgle the water deep into their throats
And the tiny elephants keeping safe
Under their mothers’ legs obeying the signals
Be discreet; be wary; keep close
And in a moment they shrink into the darkness
And are gone. Magic of the night in Africa.
It is sometime since I have been on a night safari but the sounds and eeriness stay with me. Waiting beside a waterhole, anything can turn up. I remember feeling very vulnerable parked in a broken old open-topped Land Rover with a guide with an old rifle our own protection! Of course it is very dark when the moon is out and that is so much in contrast to Europe and yet once your eyes get used to it, you can see shapes and when the moon shines it can be quite clear. The guides have a searchlight but that does disturb the night life – better to wait and listen and watch.
The picture is a screen capture from a site I often visit, Africam.
Words copyright Englepip©
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