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