Copper snake coiled across the gravel path,

Wooden hills cage you in,

Forest carpets of velvet lie,

Crouched near your lifeless kin.

Trails which lead your prey to sleep,

Twist and turn in ancient dance,

The rhythm of your panting tongue,

As your cool blood flows and rants.

For miles your scales stretch before you tail,

The capture in you swells,

Harvest from it life and strength,

The scars and scales your years soon tell.

Quietly shed your fragile sheath,

Life feeds off your timeless end,

Lengths of fire coloured flesh,

Into the earth where we all will send.

Peace to you who lies now still,

Slither from your lifeless skin,

Perchance another sun will rise,

And we who fear will forgive all sins.