Lion

Twenty hours a day

To bask in magnificence

Seems appropriate-

Woe betide the rest

Of all those other mammals

When hunger spurs on!

It transpires of course

The females do the serious work

The males are mostly show

 

But oh the decline

The sad, inevitable

Onset of old age!

The king's a shadow -

When tomorrow dawns, the Pride

Has gone - Long Live the King!

Porcupine, early spring

Every afternoon

Impenetrable of purpose

He crosses our field

Slow and steady gait

Impervious to every movement,

Threat or encounter

For him the world comes

Unfolding at his approach -

Not keen on surprise

Leech

On the edge of ponds 

Leeches play a waiting game

Feast or famine, which?

The reward, rich blood

The force of life surpassing

Complete fulfilment

High stakes either way

Death or intoxicating 

Deliciousness

They can wait a year.

A game to try the patience

Has worked for aeons

Cat’s Gaze

The cat's steady gaze

Unwavering for threats, prey, jumps -

A commanding view

Beaver

Up and down ladders

Of western ponds, mountain streams

Many generations 

Have wrought the landscape

Into managed farms, of decades

In wild rotation

Strength from head to tail

Teeth to bring down mighty trees

Tails to power water

Swim or sound alarm

A strong frame for winter sleep

Dive through frigid water

To the dry platform

The dark dreams of milky warmth

Security from work

Instinctual, a world reshaped

The ultimate artisans

Unconscious artists

Sunfish

It doesn't make sense -

This clumsy giant round fish

But it has survived!

Against seeming odds

Its design admittedly

A brilliant success

But what is it like

To be an awkward discus

Landed in the waves?

What if no sunfish

What does our diverse world lose

If it joins the ghosts?

Will the aliens

In wonder at them set up 

Conservation seas

An interstellar park

Where sunfish disport forever

And grow humongous?