In the Jungle

in the wavering heat of day beneath a canopy of vibrant greens a snake coils sleepily around the branch of a tree its beaded eyes coal black and brightly sparkling bedazzled by the ruby and sapphire plumage of a macaw in the breezy lower branches of a tree a leopard sleeps off his victory awaiting the cool relief of night to awaken with the heavy perfume of jasmine at the onset of evening overhead the sky exhibits its finery fiery oranges and fierce reds proud display of its dying glory her funeral shroud which slowly unfurls around her to pale gold and is then handed over to the silvery rule of the moon, and her sister stars a new world emerges beneath the canopy heralded by a cacophany of nocturnal screams for here every creature fears strange eyes in the dark yet even these eyes must close in slumber long before the birds sing out their morning greetings before dawn stretches her long, pale fingers across the sky to touch and awaken the sleeping landscape beginning a new day