The Panther

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in a while... :( The usual multitude of reasons: work, work and more work! Anyways, I won in my school poetry competition again (3rd year counting!) and I got to perform my piece in front of a live audience. It was also put into a school publication; however due to unfortunate circumstances *ahem*, the last three stanzas got cut midway. It's really embarrassing and killed all my enthusiasm but sometimes things just happen. So here it is published (in its full glory?) Hope you enjoy!

The Panther

she prowls

the edge of darkness

latent lethal and lithe

against the starless

night sky

foliage quivering

whence she came

guardian of gloom

a dominant queen

of melanistic doom

soft padding of step

crispy leaves beneath her

claws – still sheathed

slinking

across lone mountain.

the trees cower in dread

before the blessed curse

fear and awe unsaid

graceful prances

up the slope until she reaches a

puddle.

Stride interrupted,

she stares at her

shallow reflection:

phosphorescent pupils

gazing idly

in return.

Irises lanced with greed.

Lashes of lust.

Whiskers shivering.

No one to trust.

The ivory moon rises,

its cold glowing spectre

casting ghostly shadows

onto her flushed cheeks.

Gossamer threads of light

entrap her inside –

a cage of night

Nowhere to hide.

I spring forwards.

The glass shatters:

Out of peripheral vision –

the mirror reduced to debris:

Fragments of affection
for the beast inside me.



Yours truly,

Shepherd's Shame

The wolf with his evil trickery,
And his bloody bitter history,
With sheep cannot be trusted.
For he had an abyssal hatred,
A feeling deep as the ocean,
Of the sheepdog and his devotion.

Wolf comes stealthily in the morning,
Sheepdog barks a loud forewarning.
Shepherd screams a terrible “Shush!”
And imprisons the sheepdog with a push.
Then the shepherd goes to sleep,
Abandoning all the innocent sheep.

The wolf runs out from the dark wood,
And gobbles sheep like no one ever could.
The sheepdog imprisoned in his cage,
Watched on helplessly at the carnage.
The shepherd dozing through the wolf’s deceit,
Allowing the angelic sheep’s defeat.

Then suddenly the shepherd awakes,
And roars like a million earthquakes.
“Why ever did you not protect my flock?”
The sheepdog answers, “How about the lock
You chained me with so willingly?”
Shepherd glares at him chillingly.

Leaders around the globe today,
With fame and wealth are led astray.
Practicable advice they heed not,
Revealing to enemies their weak spot.
Tragedy knocks at the citizens’ door,
Then leaders are silent no more.

Instead they furiously blame
Activists for their own shame.