Blue Africa by Denise Levertov

[flexagon]

As they roam over grassland
the elephants cast
a blue river of shadows.
Their ears flap as they listen.

One evening, caught
in icy wind,
the traffic snarling,
I saw for one moment
their fluent stride, and heard
a quiet in Africa,
hum without menace.
They listened to sunlight,
and flowed
onward, unhurried.
                  Remember,
they are there
              now.
Each in turn
enters the river of blue.