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Sheena Snell Jun 2010
In the darkness of the night she looks to the moon for help, falling to her
knees she prays.  Seeing the darkest of nights she feels more alone then she ever has.  The hairs on the back of her neck rising she raises to her feet and runs, knowing there is something deadly wrong.

Hearing footsteps up ahead he rushes on ahead praying to the stars that the girl hi is after has not rushed to far ahead.  Leaves crunching under his feet he hurries on panting and gasping for breath, heart beating loudly he surely thinks that if she were near she would be able to hear the beating.

Her eyes glowing like the eyes of a cat, she feels her reflexes going into full affect as she runs as fast as a cheetah.  She pounces up into a tree hissing at the figure behind her.  Her emerald green eyes glowing in the darkness she sees the figure stop and bend over their knees to catch their breath she assumes.  Getting into attack position she sits and waits.

Looking up ahead in the darkness he sees the bright green eyes in a tree staring dead at him, feeling shivers go down his spine he slowly goes forward not knowing what to expect.  The coolness of the night tightens around him making him shiver with cold and fear.

Waiting, waiting, and stalking she sits on a limb looking down on the figure.  No know that it is a man that has come after her.  Her hind legs drawn
tight with adrenaline she still waits for the right moment to pounce.

Fear clutching his heart he fears for his life and the girls.  Looking up in the tree where he had first seen the green eyes he sees them again staring at him once again.  He stands there not moving just looking.  Could it be, he wonders.  No, it could not be the girl he is after.  Could the legend he has heard be true?

Her claws digging into the bark of the tree she hisses down at the man just standing there, she can smell the fear off of him knowing that it is not her he fears, but the thought of loosing her to the panther that she has become.  
Growling she leaps down onto the ground and circles him growling and hissing under her breath.

Seeing the large cat jumps down from the tree he stands perfectly still not longer fearful.  As the panther circles him he watches the sleek black body moving, noting the powerful muscles within the legs.  Not daring to move he sits and waits.

Shock that he would sit down she stops and walks to the front of him and sits down herself.  Looking into his gray eyes feeling her soul tinge she lays to her stomach and waits to see what he'll do next.

Not knowing how to react he stares into her emerald green eyes as she stares into his.  How could a sweet beautiful girl all of a sudden turn into a dangerous cat?  He quietly and slowly rises to his feet as the panther jumps to hers he stands still not knowing what she will do if angered.

As he stares into her eyes her soul feels weird once again.  She is angered that he had the nerve to stand and still not be afraid.  As she lunges to her feet she growls, daring him to be afraid.

The wind howls through the trees as he watches the panther as she growls he knows that she is extremely angered.  What is he to do?  He cannot make himself feel something he has no need for.  He knows that she wants him to be frightened yet he cannot, for he knows in his soul that she will not harm him.

Growling she tackles him to the ground.  Pinning him down she looks into his gray eyes feeling that tingling sensation through her soul once again.  She hisses at him for making her feel this way.

No longer fearing for him or the girl’s life he lays pinned to the ground feeling the panther’s hot breath on his face, he waits for her next move.

With the moon high in the sky and the wind blowing she fears that the time has come where she will have to return back to her normal body form.
She growls one more time at the man on the ground and races off into the darkness growling all the while as she runs feeling the wind on her face.

Stunned at just what happened he jumps to his feet and takes off after the panther not wanting to lose it.  Desperately trying to remember the legend that his grandfather had told him the night before about the panther girl.  He looks up into the stars and sees them in a pattern of a panther.

Still racing through the night hearing her own breathing growing heavy and her hair flying behind her wildly as she runs.  Knowing that she has
returned.  Hoping that she will feel the power of the panther again.

Now remember the legend of the panther girl he recalls it so he will be prepared when he comes up on her again.  His grandfather had told him that long ago a young girl had wondered into the forest for comfort after her mother's death.  She had asked for protection of the lord above, and he had given it to her by when the night is dark and the moon is high with the stars bright, only when she be either afraid for her life or when she would just want to feel the cool wind flowing through her black fur, would she turn into the black powerful panther.

Gasping for air she stops and looks around feeling cornered she climbs a tree once again for protection.  She sits and thinks of her mother that she had lost long ago.  Thanks to the angels above she had found protection and comfort.  She looks down and sees the man that has been after her coming down the trail.  She sits and watches him, wondering what he sees in her.

His legs feeling ready to give out he knows he must rest if he is to be of any good in searching for the girl, he drops to the ground and leans against the tree starring off into the distance wondering where the panther girl
was now.  He hopes and prays she is not to far off.  Feeling sleep take over him he has now power to resist, he falls into a dream filled sleep of running panthers.

Feeling more trapped then she has ever felt she looks down again and still the man sleeps under the tree.  How is she to get out of the tree without waking him up?  Looking for an escape route and finding none, she quietly climbs down the trunk of the tree leaping over the sleeping man.  She stands in front of him and looks him dead in the face while he sleeps.  Seeing a scar along his neck she shudders now knowing that it is he.

Opening his eyes he is starring at the beautiful girl that he had helped so long ago, no remember why the eyes of the panther were so familiar, it is she, the panther girl.  He reaches out his hand, hoping that she will take it.

Seeing his eyes open she blinks like the deer caught in the brightness of the light.  It could not be the man she had to look to for help that long ago, no it could not be.  The scar on his neck however says so otherwise.  He extends his hand to her she gently takes it not knowing what else to do.

He is the lord from the heavens that gave her the power to turn into the panther.  He is the lord that his grandfather talked about.  He came to her
when she prayed up to the heavens for protection and came down to show her that there was hope and that he would indeed help her, scratching his neck she had sat there crying and watching his neck bleed, taking her wrist he had slit it to mingle their blood together, and there he stood chanting.  And that is how she became the panther girl for he was the panther man.

Dropping to her knees she sits in front of him again, once again as she did three years ago.  Looking into those warm hopeful gray eyes, she smiles at him knowing he will not harm her for he is her father.

Rising to his feet he gently pulls her to hers.  Taking his daughter in his arms he whoppers that the time has come for them to finally go home.  Looking to the moon he growls as his fur is rustled by the wind.

Feeling free once again standing on all fours by her father she races through the **** of a new day with her blood father finally going home.
Luzita Pomé Nov 2018
You used to tell me that beautiful things come from pain and adversity.
Like motherhood, unconditional love, and true stories.
As I stood in the middle of a room painted white,
Staring at the remains of rolling hills burned to black,
I saw you staring back at me.

Burnt fields like black panther fur
Shining against your bones
Velvet black
You’ve changed
And changed and changed
Yet your love still remains
Burnt fields like black panther fur
Whiskers are the needles on a compass
Always pointing to the azure sky
You used to sing when I cried
Rolling your r’s over rrolling hills
A haunting melody startling black birds into the night
Feathered constellations against a sliver moon
And lips pressed to my salty cheeks

You told me that your favorite skin tone was chocolate,
As you laid out in the sun hoping to melt. “A quarter black” is what you say when you want to feel proud,
Even as you tell me stories of how your mother was called negrita,
The girl who stood too dark amongst the crowd.

Burnt fields like black panther fur
Black like the broken wings of mothers before you
Who had hands with scars from cotton seeds
And blue veins like uprooted trees
Stretching all the way to their tired knees
Burnt fields like black panther fur
You criticize your aging beauty
Speaking in envy of the color gold
Like you are a broken bowl in need of kintsugi
Yet silver snakes still slither
Over the pebbled river beds of your black curls
Dripping down the small of your back
Until they reach the base of your ivory spine
Burnt fields like black panther fur
You criticize your aging beauty
Because you never thought
Cocoa lips and sun spots painted on sculpted clay that never cracks
Could ever look as stunning as it does on you

You told me that it is better to speak my truth then tell pretty lies.
So I told you mine and you cried,
And cried and cried.
But look where we are now,
Standing beside each other with the same eyes,
Just different reflections.

Burnt fields like black panther fur
Tongue like a sword set ablaze
Tempered in pools of milk and honey
Blood red sun grazing the tops of your eyelids
Still reminiscent of those in old photographs
Where you saw the little girl you search for in me
Burnt fields like black panther fur
I am sorry I made you cry
But even when our backs are turned
We are still
Black birds singing in the dead of night
Free
Thank you mama for my broken wings.
Inspired by a photograph of a burnt field that I saw in an art gallery. For my mom.
Ivan Brooks Sr Feb 2018
I saw Black Panther
It was awesome!
As a brother,
I Feel wholesome.

Black Panther
Gives us a lot to say
Take it as a reminder
We are here to stay.

Black Panther
Is incredible
Its realism makes me wonder
about my people.

Black Panther
It's kinetic
says my father
and that's fantastic!

Black Panther
Is purposeful
Well done Mr director,
That's wonderful!

Black Panther
A Marvel movie
The hero, a brother
Brilliant in my view!

Black Panther
shows why representation
and identity was a factor
In the Wakanda nation.

Black Panther
I think Loving it
will be far better
Than hating it.

Black Panther
Is not about the Black race
But a serious matter
about our own place.


©️IB-Poetry
2/22/2018
The time came finally to be proud of something entirely about us, our Dashikis, our identity, our superhero from Marvel couldn't have come at a better time.
Mateuš Conrad Oct 2018
.if, and however many mistakes i made in typo... attempting to compete with Spawn, using the black panther... ******, please... it's like that "healthy" competition of butter, using margarine... Black Panther isn't Spawn... Spawn is... Spawn... yeah... thanks for ruining my 12" wish fetish... i was so dying... to... i was never going to **** an English girl to begin with... thank god.

you're seriously going
to "correct" me
using black panther....
seriously?
spawn was the *******
to what....
to whatever you're
doing these days....
i don't want to be
the blank panther...
**** being black panther...
*******...
i want to be spawn"..
******* quasi-******...
john coltrane...
you a *mariah carey

back-up singer or some
otherwise alien whacky
alien-backlog?
compared to spawn...
the black panther
looks like a ******* ******....
wing guy...
for what's deemed
12"...
             black...
mire like bleak Parthenon...
some columns,
no spirals...
  waste of time...
      black Panther, what?
so Spawn...
           was just a waste of time?
Spawn was the gran-daddy
where the Batman was the daddy
given the Joker
was the gran-gran-daddy...
you get me?
Miles Davis too much for you?
the blank panther is such
a ***** move...
it's like... come Kosovo...
when expecting Sarajevo...
******... this **** will not
stick...
high flying ****
if you think this will become
a ******* pancake...
   no, ******...
take your blank panther back
to Yakanda, or whatever...
your Spawn was cooler than
Lego Batman...
              **** your white *****...
and leave me to my existentialism
of... making a "heroic" exit..
akin to Elvis...
but more or less minding
Roy Orbison in a sing along.

p.s.
lego batman movie quote:
black panther *****!
spawn go go go! spammy!
Mateuš Conrad Oct 2018
****... i was just thinking about porridge...
no... not Fletcher, Ronnie Barker...
****... what was i thinking of?
Quaker Oats?
  it's not even funny... what was it?
ah...
         black Hollywood taking over...
Denzel doing his Zen and D-end ****...
Black Panther...
               Black Panther?!
ha ha... is that some sort of Pink Panther
spoof?!
  the Prodigy did a song for a movie...
one man army...
oh... right... you've forgotten its existence...
now we're getting all the activism revival
revamp?
    Black Panther is like Pink Panther....
a ******* joke....
                        does anyone even begin
to comprehend... Spawn?!
Spawn is the reason why Batman became
Lego...
                       honest to god,
scouts' honor...
                 wait wait... so Spawn is bleak?
you know, that Lethal Weapon II South Africa
exchange... but but.. you're bleak!
or whatever the best coordinate association is...
with the mister-race...
            who the **** wants to be
the Black Panther?!
all the crumpets / chiseled retrograde
        crackers...
      guess it's good i'm not slang
for milk0boy... ****** lactose intolerant?
too bad...
how about i **** off your ma ma?
                Black Panther is *******...
who wants to be Black Panther?
probably some educated counter to a Kanye West
commentator...
Spawn... all d-way...
              v-way... but you know...
we figured: difference are so that we get a chance
to matter...
          minstrel does the shuffle...
Black Panther my ***...
compared to Spawn?
            looks like...
the KKK embarked on an appeasement
treaty....
                compared to Spawn,
Black Panther,
it makes Dave Chappelle              
   look like, ******* michael mcintyre...
which is funny... funny...
only when eating chips
and being attacked by a flock
of seagulls...

oi... watch this... Black Panther
propagandists...
   who've never seen a minute's worth
of the film Spawn,
which could make any white boy say...
**** Batman, i wanna be Spawn.

wankers.
there's no culture war to be spoken of...
given that the said victories and losses
are so banal...
the, "war" hasn't even started...
and said people are claiming
either victories or losses...
            we haven't even started!
Rainbow Nov 2012
I'm falling in love with a panther.
He caught my eye in the dark...
   or was he the dark?

Silky black powerful faraway huge
His shoulders rolled with a twist of his stride
Bringing him closer to electrify my side
   and give me a glimpse
   of his battle scars

Fingers of fur to tickle a laugh
Dark melancholy to beckon a past
I placed my hands on his whiskery face,
let them slide behind his agonized gates
Are those words that were spoke from me or him?

In his ambling walk lives a passionate heartbeat,
     in his hunted gaze the joyful sorrow of seeing and remaining unseen
     behind great sharp leaves and semi-permanent shadows

Warmblooded, crystal river, feeling panther
Not so unknown
Not so feared or shunned
What's this crimson breath in my throat?

To hear his cry a mile away
What is this wrenching, muddy pain in my soul, in my core,
      calling me like one I've known
      and yet never before?
Panther, please don't die

I turn just in time to see the darkness rolling over his tear-drenched side
Fall to my knees to catch his heavy head in my determined palms
      watch as his blood trickles from him to me,
      feel it absorb into the promise in my skin

When the soft pastel of day caresses his black silhouette,
      I place a wondering hand
      on his warm, lifting chest
Stroke my fingers along his chin to his ears
Peaceful shutters covering his eyes in temporary rest from The Chase,
      nothing to remind me of the danger
      but a flick of his sleeping paw

When I lay next to him with my back against his hard belly and my foot brushing back to still his,
       my heart finds its elusive case,
       my fingers his wiry, black fur
There is a panther heart in mine.

Muzzle near my neck and fire racing sanity
What is this love-shaped thing misting my mind?
Heavy, muscled body shifts and I brace myself for the end
Instead I find myself face to face with my other half

Gazing into a deep dark silky pool
        I can't explain
        can't seem to leave

Beautiful unexpected deep impassioned new
I think I've fallen in love
Eyes of my panther sad, understanding, wise, searching for something I don't have
I'd follow him into any jungle dark
       latte and chocolate
       coat and skin

Face to face yet with burning eyes straight ahead
I rest my hand on his thick dark neck as we walk side by side
My panther and me
Down a road neither can know, bound by something so sweetly unseen
Michael R Burch Apr 2021
THE KNIGHT IN THE PANTHER’S SKIN

***** Rustaveli (c. 1160-1250), often called simply Rustaveli, was a Georgian poet who is generally considered to be the preeminent poet of the Georgian Golden Age. “The Knight in the Panther's Skin” or “The Man in the Panther’s Skin” is considered to be Georgia’s national epic poem and until the 20th century it was part of every Georgian bride’s dowry. It is believed that Rustaveli served Queen Tamar as a treasurer or finance minister and that he may have traveled widely and been involved in military campaigns. Little else is known about his life except through folk tradition and legend.

The Knight in the Panther's Skin
by ***** Rustaveli
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

excerpts from the PROLOGUE

I sing of the lion whose image adorns the lances, shields and swords
of our Queen of Queens: Tamar, the ruby-throated and ebon-haired.
How dare I not sing Her Excellency’s manifold praises
when those who attend her must bring her the sweets she craves?

My tears flow profusely like blood as I extol our Queen Tamar,
whose praises I sing in these not ill-chosen words.
For ink I have employed jet-black lakes and for a pen, a flexible reed.
Whoever hears will have his heart pierced by the sharpest spears!

She bade me laud her in stately, sweet-sounding verses,
to praise her eyebrows, her hair, her lips and her teeth:
those rubies and crystals arrayed in bright, even ranks!
A leaden anvil can shatter even the strongest stone.

Kindle my mind and tongue! Fill me with skill and eloquence!
Aid my understanding for this composition!
Thus Tariel will be tenderly remembered,
one of three star-like heroes who always remained faithful.

Come, let us mourn Tariel with undrying tears
because we are men born under similar stars.
I, Rustaveli, whose heart has been pierced through by many sorrows,
have threaded this tale like a necklace of pearls.

Keywords/Tags: ***** Rustaveli, Georgia, Georgian, epic, knight, panther, skin, queen, Tamar, praise, praises, Tariel, Avtandil, Nestan-Darejan
Sheena Snell Jun 2010
The darkness closing around her as she reaches to the stars for help and protection.  Wishing just one more time that she could become the black powerful night panther once again.  Dropping to her knees in the same spot where her father had given her the power to become the black panther, she softly touches the bark where she had scratched at it testing her newfound claws.  How could this wonderful power of her been taken away?

Watching from a distance he sits on a rock watching his daughter stroke the tree knowing in his heart that she wants to feel the powerful panther flowing through her blood once again.  He looks to the cloudy night wishing it would clear up for her to get her wish.  For the legend was told that the moon must be high in the night sky, with the stars shinning bright.  Shaking his head he stands and walks to her slowly.

Hearing someone coming up behind her she turns quickly, her eyes blazing, even though not the panther, yet feeling it within her longing to come out.  Seeing that it is only her father she looks back to the tree and stands to greet him.  Looking into his gray eyes she sees him hurting in his soul for he can do nothing but hope that the night sky clears up.  Hearing thunder off in the distance she shivers knowing there will be a storm coming in.  Looking towards the horizon she sees a flash of lighting, feeling it's power go through the earth and rumble against her she laughs gleefully knowing the time was finally near, turning to her father she smiles gratefully.

Seeing her smile was the greatest sight that he had seen in two weeks, ever since the sky had gone black and the moon not dare to show.  Feeling the adrenaline run through his veins he to knows the time was at hand.  Seeing the excitement in his daughter's eyes he to feels ready.  The rain pouring down on to them making the dirt into little ponds, looking towards the river he notes the water rushing by with such force that even Earth knows there is going to be danger this night.

Letting out a growl to the moon as the clouds part and the wind dies down.  Seeing the bright moon in the sky she starts to race through the darkness feeling the wind flowing over her sleek black body, her eyes blazing emerald green as she hisses and growls.  Looking back she sees her father running along side her.  She can see his massive muscles flowing through his black body as his feet pound the forest floor.

Finally feeling free and at home he races after his daughter hearing her growls throughout the night.  Hissing he takes off, catching up to her he sees the hairs on the back of her neck are high.  He sniffs the air and smells danger.  He runs up to her and stops in front of her to get her to stop along side of him.  He looks into her green eyes pleading to her to be careful.  As he walks in front of her looking through the brush he sees fire throughout the forest.  Sniffing the air again he smells the scent of danger, smoke.

Scarred, not knowing what to do she follows her father and seeing what he sees, smelling what he smells, her eyes continue to blaze as she hisses at the flames growing higher and thicker as they race through their homeland.  Looking into the sky she watches as the birds of prey flying away from the flames terrified of them.  Growling she nips at her father's tail urging him to follow so they can escape the inferno, alive.  He turns to face her and she becomes deadly afraid of what she sees within those gray eyes of his.

He looks into his daughter’s eyes and he knows within his soul that the time has come for him to depart from this earth and join her mother in the heavens above.  He lays to his stomach and growls at her to run, as he feels the heat cover his body, he closes his dim gray eyes purring loudly.

Nipping her father’s ears hissing at him to follow so they can escape the inferno alive.  He turns to face her and she becomes deadly afraid of what she sees within those gray eyes of his.

He looks into his daughter’s eyes and he knows within his soul that the time has come for him to depart from this earth and join her mother in the heavens above.  He lies to his stomach and growls at her to run feeling the heat cover his body, he closes his dim gray eyes purring loudly.

Nipping her father’s ears hissing at him to follow scared at what is to come.  Watching him close his eyes was like watching a flag go down in defeat.  Racing off into the darkness with the flames behind her nipping at her heels as she runs, running faster and free growling at the moon for letting this happen to her father.  Finally at the edge of the forest she jumps the river that separates it from the mainland, she looks back and sees her father's face within the flames.  Bowing her head she sits down and hugs her knees feeling that he has left in peace and is looking down on her, the stars above are now in two panther shapes, knowing in her heart and soul that one is her mother and the other is her father.
NoislessShackles Aug 2014
Define Pink Panther
I say they wanted something shy.
pink fits the description just fine.

Cat's on the hold are sly,
and never back out of a fight.
The pink panther usually runs and hides,
sometimes even takes flight.

This domestic upright
walking panther,
is no wild cat.

He's a pink furred,
scene boy,
big dreamer,
Fangless stranger
full of joy.
A growless feline.
calm breed,
Real life fiction, wanted toy.

It's not in his nature,
to eat you,
Instead will lend a hand.
I saw how he,
a cat,
helped out a feathered
friend.

© J-d S. J

— The End —