ivory song

WORDS:

the lurid sun hauled the dawn across the sere plains
and the silent soil spins its dust to the other side.
with the watering hole minding its business for once.
a forewarning of what is and yet to come,
under the mid-summer dream in the haze of the Serengeti.

ancient melodies recite with tears
bringing the gusts of the scolding breeze
with the discourteous dew hissing at the reverb of the song
a forewarning of what is and yet to come,
under the mid-summer dream in the haze of the Serengeti.

the man-made thunder bought its lightning
and earnestly struck it once,
wilting down a gentle grey mountain with prised ivory peaks
a forewarning of what was and could no longer be.
under the mid-summer dream in the haze of the Serengeti.

when the lullabies fade and the ivory songs are forgotten,
can we ask the poachers how extinction became a source of survival?

Buy Rivers of Broken Water ( ROBW) on Amazon:

© 2022 Hannah Williams. All rights reserved. All work on this blog, including archived posts, is entirely human-created. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used without permission. Use of this work for AI training is strictly prohibited. For details, see ihannahwilliams.com/copyright.