Conversation with a Burchell Zebra foal and His Mama (repost inspired by Alison's Moose conversations)

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OwlSA
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-11-07

Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

0 posted 2011-07-16 05:57 PM

CONVERSATION WITH A BURCHELL ZEBRA FOAL AND HIS MAMA
30 March 2002

Little zebra,
I came across you
in a sunny clearing in the forest
you, your mama, and another.

At first I stood and talked
as I have always done
to other zebras at other times …
not knowing …
not knowing what was shimmering on the edge of my universe.

Perhaps it was because I spoke to all of you at first,
though the third was more interested in grazing
and didn’t reply at all,
but Mama listened, assessing me,
and somehow I felt her approval and friendship
and a bonding of mothers.

It was as though she felt it good manners
on my part
not just to charm her baby without
announcing myself and my intentions.
I told her of her beauty
and that Burchell zebras
are my favourites,
and somehow she sensed
that every word I said was true.
I told her how exquisite
her little foal was,
not newborn, but just old
enough to scratch his ear
with his hindhoof
and how adorable that was
but how I was concerned that
Little One may have had earmites,
but then I repeated to her
the voices of my education
which told me that was not an issue
for wild animals
particularly zebras
and she listened to all this
with interest,
twitching each ear independently
in reply
as you did too,
listening to every word.
And I turned to you
and told you how clever you were
and by then, Mama was totally at ease
and I swelled with pride and love and gratitude
for Mama’s trust
and she replied with more ear twitches
and placid deep gaze eyes
and grazed in the summer sun,
trusting,
and gradually
it was mostly you I was talking too,
for the more I talked, the more you listened,
enraptured at my voice
and the tales I told,
Arabian Nights for Zebra Foals,
and Mama listened still
but in the background
as though trusting you too
to know the lessons she’d taught.

I told you how your stripes
flowed up into your mane,
and said for you to know
how smart that looked
to look at Mama’s mane -
and she looked up from her grazing
for a moment.

I told you how God gave you your beautiful stripes
of black and white and shadow brown
in love
as camouflage
in dappled light
to guard you from danger
and you listened and twitched an ear.

I told you of Flicka, my horse,
and details of how horses are different
and of how they are the same
and you twitched your ears
and held your head at times
on one side as though amazed.

We talked and talked and talked
and the sun warmed our different backs
and then the moment came …

You took a few steps towards me
on little zebra feet.
I thought I’d died and gone to Heaven.
I held my breath with bursting joy
for I thought Mama would stop you …
but she didn’t.
She looked up …
and went on grazing.
I thanked her for her trust -
she twitched an ear and looked at me
placidly and accepting,
zebra of the wild she was,
then you and I resumed our conversation.

I felt as though in a dream.
The moments were brighter than the sun.
We talked and talked and our conversation
became more and more intense …
and then …

you took a few more steps towards me,
cautious, as Mama had taught,
but curious and unafraid …
the pinnacle of happiness for me,
for now you were but a Mama-zebra length away.

Your eyes and mine held each other
and we talked and talked of all things
like the beauty of the summer day
and the blue, blue cloudless sky.

I wanted time to stop
and then found I was wrong about the pinnacle of happiness
for it stretched further still …
for you took yet more steps.
I thought my heart would explode with love and trust,
but this time you had crossed the boundary
of Mama’s comfort, but not her trust,
for all she did was to wander a few steps slowly out of sight,
- no call, no fear, no rushing between us, no lashing out at me
with her tiny sharp, sharp hooves -
just a few steps out of sight, knowing you would follow.

But so much gratitude and love and trust had passed
in that golden triangle, that I could not have wished for more.

Thank you my little zebra darling
and not least Mama dear
for the sacred moments
of bonding with a baby zebra
and his Mama
in a conversation
that will take me back
to every word and twitch of ear
at every recall,
and each time I return
to your vast grassland hills and riverine forest home,
I’ll look for you my baby zebra, and your Mama
and when you’ve grown
I’ll search the depths of every zebra’s eyes
and talk my soul deep into his or hers
in the hopes that
it is you
my little zebra foal.

Owl

Alison

Member Rara Avis

since 2008-01-27

Posts 9318
Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!

1 posted 2011-07-16 06:22 PM

How can I express how much I love this? I can't - so I will simply be silent.

xoxoxo
A

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

2 posted 2011-07-16 06:27 PM

Pure joy to read and to experience, dear Owl! Such a wonderful time of deep connection! I do understand the preciousness of every single moment you lived and evoked in this exquisite poem.

Thank you for reposting it.

Btw ... I just talked to the lovely little lizard who comes out at night on my balcony. I thanked him for catching the mosquitos

The lizard is very shy but he did listen it seemed for a while, I tranquilized him about Zelda, I told her how much I appreciate him. But I think it's good that he is at safe distance from her!

Your friendship with animals, dear Owl, is a constant source of awe and inspiration.

Love,
Margherita

ice
Member Elite

since 2003-05-17

Posts 3404
Pennsylvania

3 posted 2011-07-16 06:34 PM

Dear Diana
What a wonderful post..... :-)

"I felt as though in a dream.
The moments were brighter than the sun.
We talked and talked and our conversation
became more and more intense …"

I am often in a dream state, most of my poems about nature, and the natural world are written under that influence..

And more than that, I talk to plants..and I feel they reply , not in words, but simply by their beauty..

The Zebra foal did not speak outloud, but you surely heard what it said..

Simply beautiful, is what this poem is..
not simplistic, by any means..simply, like in the rudimentary association we sometimes have with nature.

secondhanddreampoet
Member Ascendant

since 2006-11-07

Posts 6394
a 'Universalist' !

4 posted 2011-07-16 10:04 PM

This is REALLY grand-fine !!

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-11-07

Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

5 posted 2011-07-17 03:43 AM

Thank you all very much for sharing so intimately the wonder of my experience with my darling little zebra with me.  The memory of the details of the event bring the magic of the experience to me as real and current as it was then.

Alison, I know how much you love and understand and know this – with or without your words.  Smiles.

Thank you, Margherita.  We animally-people, as I describe us, for want of a better word, have a joyous blessing and bond that is beyond description.  I wish that everyone could have this joy.

Thank you so much for telling me about your darling little lizard friend and for making friends with him and thanking him for catching the mosquitoes and for explaining things to him so beautifully, and so every especially for warning him to stay out of Zelda-kitty’s way.  I am sure he went away with the same feeling as I did after my zebra experience.

I am so happy and grateful that my bond with animals resonates so beautifully in your own.  I think that we could have the best of both worlds – our so-called progress – and the purity of animals and nature – if only we could only learn from animals and nature – but, generally, people think they are too clever for that.  I find that sad.

Thank you Ford.  I know that your job involves Botany and Dendrology.  I envy you.  I believe that all of Nature (including us, as tainted as we are) is One and that we all communicate with each other to whatever level we want – some zero % - some close to 100%, - but very, very, very few, if any, 100% (even at a given moment) and that especially includes human to human.  I love what you felt and expressed about my poem – I rate that a very high level of inter-communication, lol!

Thank you, Bruce.  I am glad you enjoyed it.

Owl

suthern

Member Seraphic

since 1999-07-29

Posts 20723
Louisiana

6 posted 2011-07-20 03:24 PM

This... is joy!!! *S*

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-11-07

Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

7 posted 2011-07-21 11:18 AM

Thank you, Ruth. Glad you enjoyed it. Smiles.

Hugs
Owl

latearrival
Member Ascendant

since 2003-03-21

Posts 5499
Florida

8 posted 2011-07-22 12:12 PM

You have a powerful talent to have been able to do this; feel it; speak it and write it.I am truly very in awe of you. jo

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-11-07

Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

9 posted 2011-07-22 11:22 AM

Thank you Jo, for your kind words. You honour me. I have always found it so easy to communicate with animals - so much more so than with humans.

Owl

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