Talking to a Hippo

        Talking to a Hippo

"It's your greatest hour as survivor,

       I'm your emissary;

talk on behalf of your kind and others,

      against your enemy."

                      Dr Abe V Rotor

The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), 

or hippo, is a large, mostly herbivorous, semi aquatic

mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa, and one of only

 two extant species in the family Hippopotamidae, the 

other being the pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis 

liberiensis or Hexaprotodon liberiensis). The name 

comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse." 

(Reference: Internet)

Photos taken by the author at Avilon Zoo, San Mateo, Rizal, 

January 3, 2018, 3rd birthday of Markus, author's grandson.

   

He is all alone in a wide, wide pond, 

     survivor of a big herd;  

whatever happened to its long time kin

     hasn't really been heard. 

I asked Hippo junior, a name I coined;

     it hid under a mat of duckweed

carpeting the pond green from any view,

     he was shy and naïve, indeed. 

I asked about the native hippo in Africa, 

     in Asia and Australia,

its relationship with other species
     under Class Mammalia. 

I was talking with books I had once read,
     a time long, long ago,
when man was not enemy of Nature,
    a record and history, too.

"It's your greatest hour as survivor,
     I'm your emissary, 
talk on behalf of your kind and others, 
     against your enemy."

Hippo Junior suddenly lurched  and jumped,
     words spewed out, thundered, 
in anger, hiss, nothing kind, 'cept moaning, 
     crying barely heard. 

"How long will he be alone here, warden?"
     my question unanswered,
I looked around, hills once a watershed,
     at sunset gleaming red. ~