Bette Hileman’s most recent poem to appear here was Burying Ashes (October 2011). This poem evolved from a dream. It maintains a dreamy quality throughout.
Peaceable Kingdom
By Bette Hileman
I arrived in Africa yesterday
and spent my first night,
apparently, alone in a double bed
in a small cottage.
When I woke,
the room was filled with sunlight.
A tall young stranger
was leaving my bed.
He was wearing a rumpled white dress shirt.
He was overweight,
his light skin flushed and sweaty.
Before opening my eyes
I hadn’t known he was there.
I’d never seen him before.
His soft body reminded me of the
shapeless high school boy
who’d never stopped pursuing me.
How did he get in the house?
Did I forget to secure the door?
Half-awake, I didn’t know if there was
a way to lock the cottage.
The stranger disappeared
as I averted my eyes,
observing only his torso.
I didn’t see whether he was wearing
anything below the waist.
I got up and dressed quickly
believing I would find safety outside.
I walked through the door
into a bright morning.
In the yard and fields beyond were
animals, adolescent or younger–
sheep, goats, and chickens and
wild undomesticated creatures,
lions, antelopes, and elephants.
They all looked beautiful,
like someone had bathed and groomed them.
Beyond the fields were
blue mountains and white clouds.
My house resembled a cottage
set in the Swiss Alps.
The animals seemed harmless
and were dwelling together
as if in a Hicks’ peaceable kingdom painting.
In the distance was an innocent-looking lion
kitten,
so sweet it could be a toy.
I had an urge to hug the creatures.
But after a few minutes,
they started snarling and racing toward me.
Even the lion kitten was approaching.
I had no way to escape or defend myself.
How could such beauty be so treacherous?
Why had the animals turned against me?
Yes, very dreamlike. Good poem!