Tasmanian Devil

A Tasmanian Devil,

cowed under a shaggy rock cave,

complete with a soft dirt carpet.

Small green plants, buried into the ground by small footsteps.

Footsteps too small to be from the female see now,

from where I spectate, up here, in a Tasmanian Blackwood Tree.

A cub appears from behind its restless mother.

Another and another until there are five babies,  

all pestering their mother for food.

Angry and tired, the mother rages at her cubs, then turns,

desperately trying to rest, but her cubs depend on her for food.

Tired but full of duties she rises and disappears into the rain.

The howling cubs mourn their mother’s departure, then settle.

The hard-working mother returns with fresh meat,

then she sits back to watch her babies feast on their first meal.

As cute as pandas but as savage as humans.

Australia's native lions.