Safety In Numbers, Too

The zebra foals are precious things, Great legacies of love, As from their mothers each one springs And then stands up above... To take first steps before they run, To learn truths thought as good, For dangers prowl beneath the sun Within their neighbourhood... If not for thousands old times past, What numbers would survive? For predators are mean and fast, Hunt food to stay alive... For bellies grumble, full of pain, Determined to live on, So predators must hunt again Till yet more lives are gone... The zebra foals can smile all day When all is going well, Both safe and sound, yet must not stray Or lag behind a spell... But just the same, the numbers count, Once dwindling, all is lost, As long as predators surround To make some pay the cost... Denis Martindale October 2016. Poem based on the magnificent wildlife painting by Stephen Gayford. Google-search phrases gayford prints and Stephen Gayford poetry and also for Heaven and Earth Designs...