Ivory Forest (Poem and Fragment)

The elephant stumbles,
falls to the ground,
as its last breaths
drift into oblivion.

Its skin cracks,
flesh slips from the bone,
the skeleton fades to dust,
ivory tusks sink into the ground.

The rain comes,
awakening the ivory
which rises and spreads
from the soil into the air.

Incandescent in the sun,
the ivory tree, with ivory leaves,
coiled by ivory vines.
~~~

Its grown where the elephants died.

Trapped under the baking hot sun a convoy of elephants found vegetation to be scarce, water even more so. Dehydrated and emaciated, one by one the elephants dropped to the ground, their final breaths drifting into oblivion. Other elephants tended to the sick and the dying, their compassion damning them to annihilation.

The sun caused grey hides to crack and split apart. Flesh rotted, slipped from the bone, hyena’s and jackal’s taking what they could. Bones faded into dust, leaving ivory horns scattered on the ground, shining white monuments incandescent in the barren savannah.

Finally rain began to fall, too late for some. As the ground muddied the tusks sank into the soil, the last vestiges of the elephant tribe taken by elemental forces.

Years pass and at the exact place where the elephants succumbed the ground begins to quake. Fissures open as the ground fractures and fragments. A rushing, rising sound can be heard as something smashes through rocks and soil. It reaches the surface in stages, penetrating the top soil creating plumes of dust and dirt.

With the wind absent, howling in a nearby valley the dust hangs in the air. Through the earthen haze an alabaster shine pieces the cloak of dirt. As the mist settles what was once arid scrub land is now a forest of ivory. Iridescent trees under the blazing sun coiled by ivory ivy. Under the sallow canopy ivory flowers lean towards the sun whilst ivory creepers slink away amongst the opaline undergrowth. In the midst of the browns, the greens and the deep blue the ivory forest is incandescent, sublimely white, its rock solid make up ensuring an eternal presence on the savannah.

The elephant memories were trapped in the tusks and raging inside their bony prisons sought out a new existence. Spreading through the soil they twisted and tangled creating new forms until the soil could not contain them and they had to go upwards, towards the sun, leaning that way forever.

~~~

The end bothers me slightly and I feel certain parts may be overwritten. Feedback as always is welcomed.

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