Pet-Farm Zebra
Aggression in Black and
White
Prancing,
full of springtime,
The
young zebra knows nothing of his own dark continent
Where,
beside still waters, golden-maned kings
Kill
quickly, dragging down three hundred pounds of
Lunch
for a lean-flanked pride with a
Taste
for tender black and white stripes.
Not
knowing, he fears not, taking frisky pleasure in
Terrorizing
hoofed kindred who share his pasture
In
these gentle Virginia hills.
Charging
a small herd of goats, he scatters them,
And
their scattering is his reward:
(A
grazer, he knows no need to sink teeth in flesh.)
The
zebra veers and executes a zesty prance,
Exulting
in his power. He
Struts,
then slows and stops,
Scanning
the meadow for fresh targets,
Astutely
avoiding three buffalo
Who
graze and give him not a glance.
An
old sheep with twin lambs eyes him nervously.
You
can almost hear her whisper to her young:
“Ignore
that silly beast, the one in black and white.”
But
he spies them and charges, head down.
Closer
and closer he gallops till mother flees
Despite
herself, and the lambs dart, pell-mell.
When
the three are scattered in three directions across
Dandelion-dotted
grass,
The
zebra pulls up with a gleeful dance that says,
“Ha,
ha; gotcha!” After all, no blood was
shed;
The
victim has lost nothing but her
Breath,
her dignity, and her peace.
“This
meadow is going to the dogs,” she mutters,
Gathering
her lambs and resuming her
Cropping
with trembling heart.
For
what does an old mother sheep know of
Aggressors
in black and white stripes
Bent
on terrorizing peaceful grazers?
--June
Pair Kilpatrick
Copyright
2013
June
is a member of the Virginia Writers Club, the Prince William County Arts
Council, and Write by the Rails. Her
memoir, Wasps in the Bedroom, Butter in the Well: Growing Up During the Great Depression was
published in April 2012.
June, this is beautiful and wild. Thank you!
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