My poem: okapi by okapi

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

okapi by okapi

shy, dear forest forager’s forays be-
-tween sun-striped leaves and trees in loping ease,
elude each eye.
of dark velvet cloak which leaches to repel thick damp, and long wry
Tongue which reaches, in and out, by degree
again and again! a rare hide, hiding, quietly.
at no-sound sounding, silent hooves up-cry
and down to pound lush carpet floor. Oh fly,
employ all camouflage, that none will see

that grace which taut-strung bones, honed ossicones,
made ears to flick at danger. Oh, be a stranger
even unto me.