NaturesOde

  Walking  to Library on Campus.  Will  wander  into accounts Of  Scottish  Covenantors  Or  missionary  to  India  or Kalahari.  Or  exposition  on one  Of Paul’s  Letters  (Philippians).  Autumn  winds  proving  An invigoration.  Then to be  heard  a trilling. A rude buzz  From the cedars.  Look for him Doug.  Your tiny scampering  Fire-red fellow.  Cranky little bastard. His  claws  scratching some  Bark of tree  somewhere  close.  He  finds  me invasive, interfering  Irritating and in His face.  That ‘s just too bad  Little Buddy.  I  wanna  go and read.

  The ultra-light makes for good time.  Jungle below, so  green  for a while.  Fifteen  minutes  back  The  elephants  in line  Took the  evident  path through. Luxuriating on new foliage.  From above, it was spectacular.  Camera- clicking  like crazy  For  Mustafa  and myself.  Seemingly we turn a corner.  Expansive and at high level.  Pink  friends  are everywhere.  Multiplied thousands on the lake. Upon  their  stilt legs  Or  suddenly  taking flight  In  delighted  swarming bunches.  Impossible to absorb it all. Mustafa  takes  us up higher  God’s view perhaps  Of a  magnificent  fraction  Of what he has done in Africa.  Pink and blue, pink and blue.  Glad to be back.  Now,  might  we land this baby  For a hands-on encounter?  Walk the shoreline?  Flamingos.

  Imagine getting face to face with a huge Siberian tiger. He manages to get your entire face in his gaping mouth. You punch frantically. He coughs in response, and you pull yourself free.Then some half-hearted wrestling. He isn’t really hungry (lucky you). End of bout. See you around Striper. Animal runs off to the taiga. (True story).  A book that I read had thrilling photos. One of them showed hunters standing shoulder to shoulder along the entire stretched out body of the dead cat. There were nine hunters! A game warden’s hunt for a crafty man-eater took up the second half of the book. What had led to a wilderness poacher’s demise? How to track, find, position and destroy? Without becoming the next hasty lunch.

 

 

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