Incomparabile bellezza

foto: Dan Bodenstein

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Ocelot

: :  Liz Brownlee  : :

The way water

ripples sands

and the little stones

on river beds,

arranges the

dark lines

on the coat

of the ocelot,

patterned for

waiting in its

resting tree

until the night.

At dusk

its eyes stake claim

in the hunt

for deer or bird,

with the

insistent gaze

of the obligate

carnivore,

stalks its web

of territory

with longing

in its lithe

predator’s bones,

ocelot,

exquisitely coated,

its red gold and jet

both a protection

and threat.