Lakeshore drama’s in Africa today

This epic is played out
Everyday
Between the land and the lake
Providing so much excitement
More than some can take

The Lions are clearly
Up there leading actors they
Have to take on crocodiles
Who in the water lay

Hunters in the open air
With babies around about
The waterside is dangerous
And thats without a doubt

The great Zambezi Valley
One has to understand
The crocodiles are champions in the water
But on the land

The lions are surely up to it
The savannah though can be
After the rains Quite waterlogged
So it can be dangerously

Close to where the crocodiles
May venture and be seen
And lion cubs would not stand an earthly
Which does really mean

They could end up in the belly
Of a crocodile and that
Would so upset the lionness
Who knows where she is at

The children of all the species
Feel safer when their mum
Or their parents are there with them
Its a rule of thumb

Experience and maturity
Is a critical desire
Its the difference really
Between life and death
And we all can feel that fire

Lions have their own problems
And fathers clearly they
Can change and often that can mean
The end of cubs who pay

A price perhaps their father
Is beaten in a fight
And has to leave the confines of the pride
Then day is night

For all the cubs for they will be
Murdered and the male
Will expect to have his seed there
Whilst the cubs dad hits the trail

It is all very uncertain
For lion families it fails
Prides of females dependent
On the powerfulness of males

And cubs can just be eaten
The theatre and the stage
Auditions and rehearsals
And amazing acts of rage

It must be very troubling
With out consistency
Things can happen overnight
You dont know where you might be

Its really down to timing
And the circumstances for they
Are what creates the narrative
In the lion world everyday

A dehydrated hippo cub
Has died upon the land
The lions will want to have their fill
But the crocs will give a hand

And may pull the carcass into the water
And lions will not be drawn
In the water they dont stand much chance
They may also be torn

To pieces theres no guarantee
That they can get away
And so they play it cagily
No extra risks today

On the trees the great black vultures
Silhouetted against a sky
Of orange thus depicted
In monotone and why

A kind of natural graphic art
The perspective very clear
Highlights absolutely correct
Branches filled with fear

The lions are very hungry
The impala are thirsty they
Have to watch for crocodiles
And lions too every day

Predation every which way
But what they have is speed
Fleet of foot their so hard wired
And we know where it can lead

A massive thrust and the crocdile
Holds on and pulls them in
To the muddy waters
And then begins to spin

There is no way of escaping
The fight for life is lost
Wanting to drink where crocodiles lurk
May well and truly cost