A Misunderstanding
A Poem by Luke Johnson
On the tan African exterior, there was a young boy
Who was a playful child, every day he did enjoy
The boy's father was quite a hunter and tracker,
Capable of defending his son from any attacker
One day, the father was away hunting with a spear
His son at home knew this was so and shed not a tear
Soon he saw arrows in a high place, and decided his goal
Was to try out those arrows and possibly hunt a mole
The boy quickly climbed to the top of that high place
Being the climber that he was, he did it at quite a pace
Tragically, at the top, misfortune indeed did meet him
He descended towards the floor and broke like a tree limb
The father had killed some buffalo for their meat
He knew that the delicious taste of it couldn't be beat
When he arrived at his hut, what he saw I needn't mention
A hyena feasting upon the cadaver out of no evil intention
The hyena fled upon catching sight of the man
Whose blazing gaze was so fierce, describe it not I can
The father knelt beside the corpse, held it and did weep
He decided to the murder the creature, vengeance to keep
When, at a small burrow, he reached the carrion beast
He slaughtered him without mercy, not in the least
When the hunter had finished taking the hyena's life
He saw, from the burrow, emerge its children and wife
He saw the children's fearful eyes and the wife's tears
He knew what he had done, he was filled with fears
The guilt was so great that the father took his spear
And thrust it into his chest while shedding many a tear
The hyena's wife and his children stood and stared
At both of the bodies, they were so very scared
They began to cry, or howl, for each dead being
It was the host horrific sight they had ever seen
