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Odyssey From Africa 6c

CHAPTER 6 (continued, c)

Several of the primate children 
Sat together in the branches 
Of a tree; they did not notice 
Danger silently approaching 
 
Through the leaves a brown and yellow 
Shiny scaly serpent slithered
Closer to the young gorillas 
Eyes unblinking glimmered palely
 
Then one of the watching mothers 
Saw the snake and cried a warning 
Hooting and gesticulating 
Pointing out the present danger
 
Quick the boomerang was lifted
By the same young male gorilla
And he cast it at the tree-line
Low and fast in deadly earnest
 
Curving up into the branches 
Fast it rose toward the python
But it missed by several hand-breadths
Looping back into the clearing 
 
As the young ones in the treetop
Froze in nervous indecision 
Matto now retrieved the wing-form
Took deliberate aim and threw it
 
Once again its spinning banking
Flight swerved up toward the serpent 
This time smiting it amidships
With a sharp resounding impact!
 
And the python lost its purchase 
Flailed and tumbled through the branches 
But its spine remained unbroken 
So it fled into the greenness 
 
Then a riotous celebration
Sounded out from the assembly
Happy pongid exclamations 
Resonated through the jungle  
 
Matto found himself a hero
Several male gorillas bore him
Through the crowd, above head level
For a few ecstatic moments 
 
Han then spoke some words to Matto
Fatherly advice of wisdom 
Who, now back on terra firma
Looked around the crowded clearing 
 
Noticed Kwona next to Lisa,
Rosy the baboon beside them
Who, like them, had managed to
Elude the sabertooth cat hunters
 
Then a fuzzy black-haired youngling 
Brought the boomerang to Matto
Who then turned to the troop leader
To the silverback gorilla 
 
And presenting him the wing-form
Signalled that he try to throw it
So the huge gorilla took it
Spreading murmurs of approval 
 
Copying the throwing action 
Of the boy some moments earlier 
He then briskly threw the wing-form
Not however straight and level
 
Quick inflection in the flight-plane
Made it sharply bank and circle
And the boomerang, careering,
Almost struck a nearby female
  
Skimming through the hair-crest of a
Matriarch of haughty bearing 
Who was foremost of the harem
Of the silverback troop leader
 
She then fixed on him a visage
That portended trouble later!
But the silverback's attention 
On the boomerang was focused

Copyright © Phil Salmon | Year Posted 2017

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