“You are a killer,” Said Lion to Tiger

“You should not speak so,”

“Your Bloody paws can no longer touch the earth,” Responded Tiger.

They stared one and the other

One tawny, lithe and agile, one striped, strong and lacking in guile

The silent debate raged

Bear, Wolf, Eagle and Dragon aged

all carefully observed

It be the Monkey that drew their attention

It was their lunch by anyone’s reckonning

But the little beast had hesitated

at the most momentous second

It is these times that steal your breath

Stormy winds, shuddering earth, scorching fire and chilling water

before the step into impossibility

“Our meal is about to leave us,” the Eagle warned

Bear, Wolf and Dragon made carefully study

“Fear not,” Said the Tiger, “it can not leave us.”

“Trapped it is,” agreed the Lion

At the very worst it will eat itself

Then we will be without our lunch

and Monkey will stand on the edge of eternity

I wonder more often than not

If we have really come that far

as only a glance back reveals our own bloody footprints

would say other wise