of course, a taste for the steal,
I mean, the tail just flew away

off mud and grass with loud coughing laughs
absconded a Kenyan thief,
fuzzy ringed flag
in its nozzle

sporting swifter than the
serval cat ever was

predatory indifference
taunted the dead nighttime hunter
propped up & tailless

here is what happened- a jammed bus
on 4 AM schedule careened
the hazy, dark, and treacherous Mumias Rd
unceremoniously clubbing the nocturnal mottled ghost
leaving the night cat lifeless on the roadside

daybreak revealed the spectacle,
local villagers spotted the remains
near Shibuli on the Mumias Rd
the dusty stiff feline baking
in noon equatorial sun

carried it to our yard
propped its perfect putrifying body up
with forked sticks, like a
prized trophy, and took snaps
a rotting shell of natural beauty

snipped its tail for a hat,

set on the grass thatched roof to dry
of an old mud kitchen hut
but a bandit chicken hawk detected it
flew off with the fuzzy ringed streamer
festooning its cawing beak
this pirate had a knack for the steal

but only lifted
what was already Kenya’s
and therefore, its own

…

..

.

© Brian Hodgkinson Jr. (aka) The Limericist 2021