Vanishing

Was it last week I boarded a plane in Botswana, zebras on the 

runway, hot as hell?  Lifted up from hippo ponds, carried 

past Lilac-Breasted Rollers, today I’m back home to 

snow on the ground, bean soup bubbling on my 

stove.  Of every savanna glory, I’m still 

spellbound by the cheetah’s stare, 

head bobbing like a compass 

point, with padded gait of a 

nimble stalker.   These 

slender cats of highway 

speed, spotted skin, 

rudder tails, they 

are finite, 

they are 

retreating 

into shiny 

pages on 

bookshelves 

where 

almost all 

rhinoceros 

live. 

© Marti Snell, 2018

Two cheetahs
Photo by Gary Stolz, US Fish & Wildlife Service
from Wikimedia Commons