Summer Symphony in the Park

.........

look up! -

City lights swallowed
by giant earth-eating storm:
trees dance, drunk with wind;
music stops, all eyes on winged-Leopard.

too late - rush for safety
as Leopard sweeps paws across Park,
uprooting reality, snapping Friday night:
breaking glass, ancient roots torn,
tangled webs, galaxies of debris,
rain like buckshot, angry hissing wisps.

Leopard swirls across City
inhales power lines,
one street after another
darkening dominoes;
café patrons sip wine
in candle-glow, dreaming.

no magic spells, no rattle-bones;
a Leopard uncaged is free
to roam the Universe

just get
- out -
of the way.

(neckbone, 2009)