In Africa the Sun

Avril Black, Canada

In Africa the sun.

radiates lifegiving warm-th. (warm-th. warm-th.)

and to this rhythm the animals dance:
the lions yawn the tigers bow
the dwarffrogs paddle in the rivers. (warm-th. warm-th.)

it's the dance of the desert the jingle of the jungle the song of the savannah. (warm-th. warm-th)

and in the wild wild African swamp beneath a leaf a little girl sleeps to the beat-of-a-drum.
(beat-of-a-drum. beat-of-a-drum.)

the monkeys sing a lull aby the lizards scale the trees. (beat-of-a-drum. beat-of-a-drum.)



In Canada the snow.

sparkles but do not touch it because it's-cold. (it's-cold. it's-cold.)

the ducks spread the song and the animals flee:
geese to their triangles bears to their caves, even the lady bugs hibernate
only the rabbits stay. (it's-cold. it's-cold.)

there is silence in the streets and groaning from the ground; the weight of winter is heavy. (it's-cold. it's-cold.)

and in the quiet quiet boreal forest with the pinecones and the evergreen trees a little boy sleeps in the hush of winter.
(hush. hush. hush.)

the wind howls and squirrels freeze before they reach their trees. (hush. hush. hush.)



The snow falls silently. (hush. hush. hush.) (it's-cold.) But the African rain is thunderous in its defiance of the sun. (beat-of-a-drum. beat-of-a-drum.) (warm-th.)

Avril is a seventeen-year-old writer from Canada. She loves reading and writing all kinds of genres, but she especially likes flash fiction and poetry. She lives in one of the coldest major cities in the world, and although she loves her hometown she dreams of living somewhere warmer one day.