We saw her at sundown
Teaching her cub how to score
The hyena said ‘no I am the king
Of the dead, it’s mine now’
The cub was brave
But the mother wise
And they let the buck be dragged
Away from them and their hunger
Next morning at dawn
We saw her again
Still hungry and forlorn
Has to look for something new
But nothing was there
As the heat of the day
Drove even the vermin underground
Until she saw the light
In the distance, the lodge of humans
Those arrogant apes
With their infernal machines
That torture us
Just like they cannot be seen
They watch us laugh at us
Capture us through their lenses
They are there every way we turn
At their temporary home
Having graced us with their presence
Evening and morn
Watching us kill and copulate
They return for rest
Our food, the antelope, the bok
Now spiced and turned
In their ovens of fire
They think they are safe
No fence no guards
Just the feeling that the smell
Of dominant man will keep us away
Here they are
By their own waterhole
Escaping the heat
As if they owned all
The leopard silently climbs
The man rests his eyes
It crouches on the deck
He senses the change
It rises to the pool
He opens his eyes
They look at each other
A world apart through the glass
Singita Lodge, Kruger National Park, South Africa, March 2007
