When the desert peacock
flies to the sky-blue lake
and the turtles circle the water
leaving tracks of triangular design
and the foxes look out from behind the trees
and spy on the antelope chasing the sun’s rays there
then going back into the woods
to sleep under the shadow of hidden rocks and tree roots
The flowers are noticed
by the orange ones who live there
with their slender arms
and rainbow hoods
And the dance begins
where the squirrels and chimpanzees
look south to the huts burning smoke
and then roll through the flowers
of yellow and red and white and pink
And the clouds stop their movements
to listen to the foxes as they move in their dreams
who then wake
to walk around the flowers
and clap each other’s paws
and the tree’s branches bend low
branches too gentle to scratch or break
and comb the foxes’ fur
and the snakes rise up themselves like flowers
hooded in the light between the trees
and sing their poems to the orange ones
who make bridges of rainbow for the snakes to ride on
higher and higher towards the treetops
spiraling spiraling upwards
and then back down
where the snakes themselves sleep
safe within the leaves
embedded within the tree roots
and the foxes go deeper in the forest
with the squirrels and chimpanzees following
until it is noticed
that all those of the woods
and of the desert on the edge
have noticed just a bit
the goings-on of this play
and with gleam of eye shown sideways
and a pace a bit forward and back
they each join the revelry
And it is said
this happens thrice a year
For years
Into decades
Into centuries
Until in the third dance of the year
in the ninth century past the decade of the all-white fox
it will happen that the moon will become as large as the horizon
and will turn the color of turquoise gem
and the orange ones will be able to fly above the trees
and music that makes many colors
will come from the orange ones’ whole beings
and surround the peacocks
and the antelope
the turtles and chimpanzees
the foxes and snakes
the squirrels and trees
and all who inhabit the forest and desert
And those in the huts will take notice
and they will make instruments with their wood
to sound in tune with the music of the orange ones
And there will be a blink of the moment now
when they all feel covered by the lid of an eye
When it opens
there will be a new world
of gold and diamond
and forests where one can never become lost
and sands as well where it is never too hot
and all will speak the same language
all the animals
and those of the huts
and all will have no want
and every heart will be like the lake the color of blue sky
And other prophecies will be spoken
Then there will be a blink again
and their world will return to as it was before
