Nightmares on the African Plain

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:3

The dik diks, zebras and impalas do

Dik Dik  Zebra

     Impala 

Not sleep with nightmares in their dreams.

Instead these lovely beasts live through and chew

In nightmares on the veldt.  Mouths’ daylight screams

Are throttled by the teeth of lions fanged

Down on the windpipes where these victims tried

To graze in peace, their throats and noses banged

To death while thrashing, gasping, crashed down side

Against the dirt though gasping can’t be done

While life-filled lungs are blocked from breath and air.

This cruelty is hard to be outdone.

Mere humans kill far less than Christ would dare.

  Eternally all-knowing God spoke breath

    To make a cosmos he could see brought death.

© Phillip Whidden