Waterfall

A Poem by Richard

At the edge of the banks we rested for a minute
we could see directly inside the tonsils of the falls where
the steam poured up and the sharp cascading liquid spilled down like a giant faucet left on for eternity
The power bill must be enormous!
I wrote a letter home explaining that Delirium Rainforest wasn’t even scary.
I mean, our guide warned us that a tiger-lizard “may swallow the top half of your body” but I think he was exaggerating
I was even petting the now extinct vampire lemur

Still, I had to know what was beyond that ever-flowing thirst quenching monster
SO mysterious, so dedicated.
I pleaded with the guide that I had to use the bathroom “URGENTLY”..
“But you only just went”he argued.
“this is life or death!”

I broke free and made my way through the billions of gargantuan construction ants, I fought past a mother 3-horned bat, I lost my lunch and I swam up poison lake
Eventually I was standing just inside under the cave mouth of the falls
I was excited for the first time in 6 years
I filled my hands with this drink and wet my head and put my ball-cap back on and I looked down at my shirt bewildered my clothes were beginning to melt and a tuft of my hair fell out of my head and my face began to contort and shrink … I shrunk and shrunk until I was 3 feet tall and I knew this would be the last chance I got to witness the peerless beauty of the great delirius waterfall.
The peaceful crunching shower against the rocks below and the refreshing moisture against my body
I never felt anything like it
I was shrinking away and imagining myself forever inside the waterfall, if only

A hitchhiker leech; the biggest I’d ever seen attached itself to my body then and said “I’m very sorry but this is what I do”
He sucked my blood until I saw stars and was fading slowly into the oblivion of jungle soundscape.
He had transformed into a newer version of myself. He stole my body, he stole my life, and worst of all he stole my perfect moment.