I found inspiration for this poem when I awoke last Saturday at about 4 in the morning to the sounds of thunderclaps and rain thudding against the windowpane. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I just lay in bed, listening to the lonely sounds of a Southern California storm- weather very unique to us. Later that day the winds picked up and it even hailed at one point! And the more I listened and watched, the more I felt the need to capture the moment, and this poem almost wrote itself. Hope you like it!


Serengeti Storm
By 2 Die FR


Listen, as I reminisce
Of cubhood times I sorely miss?

Sun stretched golden fingers bright
O?er the rolling landscape might
Grasses touched by blinding light
Yes, Child, I remember when
It was the Pridelands, as I knew it then.

Evening fell, and heavens clear
Overlaid with cloud clumps drear
Shrouded by a murky smear
Source from which the rains begot
It was the storm cloud, though I knew it not.

With no pretext we were shunt
From our nightly dinner hunt
All knew why, save one small runt
Na?ve to the danger fraught
It was the wet season, though I knew it not.

Songs of somnolent snoring deep
Stubbornly subsiding sleep
As I felt foreboding creep
Stomach taut in nervous knot
It was instinct, though I knew it not.

Nose inhaled a humid hung
Piling on the stench of dung
Hint of morbid things to come
Wafting, lurking through the den
It was a warning, though I knew not when.

Ears pricked to the pitter patter
From outside, a creepy clatter
Sheets of clear descending water
I believed not ear nor eye
It was the rain, though I knew not why.

Then a deep, resounding rumble
Some behemoth lion?s grumble
Roared to make assurance tumble
Fierce intruder raised a scare
It was the thunder, though I knew not where.

From the darkness came so frightening
Flashed intense, ignited brightening
Struck a thin-streaked bolt of lightning
Gone at once but left a terror
All I knew was panicked horror.

Wailing, whimpering, weeping strong
Freed distress I?d held so long
What, oh what was going on?
Was the world about to end?
I knew not how to comprehend?

Ceaselessly I kept on screaming
Wishing dearly I was dreaming
Hoped I?d wake to Mother beaming
But I knew that fright so real
Nightmares could not make me feel.

Cozy comfort cooed inside
Knowing that I could confide
I was with my caring pride
Their scent a friendly, pleasing smell
It was my family, and I knew them well.

Huddled close to one another
Father, uncle, sister, brother
I aroused my resting mother
Knowing she could empathize
And give her calming solace wise.

?Do not fear, my little child
For though the storm is fierce and wild
Filled with malice, irked and riled
Soon enough, the storm will cease
And earth restored to calm and peace.?

Thus the Serengeti flooding
Buried dormant, soaked and mudding
Grasses, trees, and flowers budding
With the storm comes joy, not tragic
It was the circle of life, and I learned of its magic.

Licks and kisses she caressed
My tender, loving lioness
Sat I amazed how I was blessed
But I lay still without a peep
For I knew it was nighttime, a time for sleep.