cheetah

Set #31 - Cheetah Rainbow s31cheetahrainbow

Cheetah Facts: In the last 12 years the wild cheetah population of Namibia has been reduced by half to approximately 2,500. The largest percentage of this and other free-ranging cheetah populations are found outside of game reserves where cheetahs are threatened with extinction due to growing human demands on resources.

The temple of the animals has fallen into disrepair.
The pad of feet has faded.
The panthers flee the shadows of the day.
The smell of musk has faded but lingers there...
lingers, lingers. Ah, bitterly in my room.
Tired, I recall the animals of last year:
the altars of the bear, tribunals of the ape,
solitudes of elephantine gloom, rare
zebra-striped retreats, prophecies of dog,
sanctuaries of the pygmy deer.

Were there rituals I had forgotten? Animal calls
to which those animal voices replied,
calld and calld until that jungle stirrd.
Were there voices that I heard?

Love was the very animal made his lair,
slept out his winter in my heart.
Did he seek my heart or ever
sleep there?

I have seen the animals depart,
forgotten their voices, or barely remembered
--- like the last speech when the company goes
or the beloved face that the heart knows,
forgets and knows ---
I have heard the dying footsteps fall.
The sound has faded, but lingers here.
Ah, bitterly I recall

the animals of last year

---Robert Duncan---

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