The Leopard Of The Forest. Poem by Geoffrey Fafard

We do not wish to alarm you
But we must pass on to you
The matter of the Leopard
That roams these hills
He is wily, he is treacherous
He devours dogs and others
He walks at night in moonlight…
————
Meanwhile I smile and think
My storyteller has read one
Jim Corbett book too many
Nevertheless before I retire
This moonlit night in the hills
I will stroll quietly through
The rambling and silent garden
Neighbouring the wilderness
The moon is two days into its wane
Mists play in the silhouetted Deodars
————
And then a way up in those mists
I see a figure, an outline
Face pointed to me staring
From the long shadows of the trees
I hear the soft gurgling, rumbling
From deep within a throat
I wish that it would come sit with me
And recount all the stories of the jungle
And then with it I would vanish
I cannot think of a more suitable way
To leave.