Upon the ancient, sun-baked sacred land
What a walking citadel makes its tread!
A thick mantle of collagen and dermal fold
Guarded by the giant limbs uphold.
No bone or antler but pure, unyielding keratin
A sculpted prow where primal ages still begin
With hooked-set lip for nimble leaf-bound grip
It shapes and charts the forest’s misty strip.
Through the sun-lit dust and wallowed mire
They cool their shield of armoured hide
Hindgut fires extract life from stem and reed
The mega-herbivore sows the wild forest seed.
Within the huge armour, a gentle instinct lies
Courting calls the dame under the vast skies
A sixteen months gestation in dark, warm womb
Yeilding a single calf silent, plumb and superb.
The calf grows for years under tender care
Of the mother, a guardian in the open air
Gradually, it learns to live in mist and clay
The King of Kaziranga endures light of the day.
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