Thunbergia Tamed

   I was being watched
          from within
        a dense tangle
            of vines.

               Eyes -
        liquid and dark,
    framed within petals
       of yellow-orange,

          peering at me
            from within
           an edge of a
         Kenyan jungle.

             That was
              long ago.

           Today, I see
     that same vine, with its
 liquid-dark eyes, and petals
       of yellow-orange,
    clinging to a cluster of

red geraniums - growing in
        a backyard deck
              flower pot.


        -I will never forget seeing
         those flowers from a corn
         field bordering an edge 
         of a jungle