Egyptian COBRA

I am the beast of the Pharaohs.

I have been here for hours.

I lie here in the gloom, in the twisted undergrowth.

My long body is coiled, my venom ready.

I sniff. I can smell you.

I watch in the gloom, my tail swishing.

I take the lethal strike.

Can you see me?

I am like shining bronze, polished and strong.

I am slow, but, when I see you I am fast as a bullet, and deadlier.

Which won’t take long.

I have eyes like the torches in the tombs of the Pharaohs.

I dance to the tunes of the wilds.

I coil, I slither, I hiss.

I protect my eggs. My eyes blaze in the darkness. I am watching you.

When the wild songs play, I whisper my words.

My tongue is out.

I dance. I am a slave to the music.

Do you like my dance?

In the dark forests and roaring rivers and thorny bushes, I lurk, alone.

And when the sun rises over the dark forest, casting a blood red light over the cold river,

I go back to the shadows

I wait there, for the darkness to come again.

Prey is best fresh.

I bite the lizard.

I fall upon it, and swallow it whole.

Everything has to come to the darkness, sometime.

I am frozen, a statue,

cold and heartless.

Unblinking, uncaring, unfeeling.

Weasle-like creatures run past, their scruffy coats shining wet with the driving rain.

I retreat, further into the shadows.

The rain crashes in the bare trees, the sky thunders.

My eyes gleam.

Everything has to come to the darkness, sometime.