MANTIS AND THE MOON:

The praying–mantis danced with his Goddess the moon,

In silence, over desert sands, in hot balmy nights of June,

Their love was written in the stars & etched upon the runes.

The old cricket played his fiddle, beneath grey baobab tree,

Kalahari wind strewed confetti, petals of the chincherinchee,                  

 Ancient sands shifted & soulfully dreamed of old blue seas.

Old brown bats dipped, beasts stalked & pretty birds flew,

The sky wore diamonds & a mantle of velvet-midnight-blue,

Africa serenaded the night until the day was birthed anew.

The waltzing ended, as new-born-dawn cracked the lilac sky,

The moon kissed the lost horizon in tears, asking God, “Why?”

And the old desert wept stones, ancient & shamefully dry.