As still as death among the choking bush
Amber-slitted eyes like burning flame
Samples juicy meat from shadows lost
Weighing in on drowsy, grazing game.

Steel claws and rippling muscles flex
Streaks of black dance down his blazing skin
Coat of dying embers, rusty brass
Shadows cloak the flaming beast within.

The victim's velvet ears pick up the breeze
But not the death that lurks beyond her eyes
She bows her tawny head to dewy sprouts
Her silky tail swishes humming flies …

Like howling thunder splitting inky sky
The coiled beast tears free from leafy black
A hissing demon's final screech from Hell
The snarling beast flies forth with his attack.

The prey sees but a flash of red-hot flame
Charging forth from blackness never found
Each heartbeat brings death closer to her throat
Her dainty hooves stay rooted to the ground.

This nightmare fiend collides with tender flesh
His foul jaws crush down on flowing veins
He stands like rock above his dying prey
Roaring triumph across the dusky plains.