The night was like a tiger’s hot sweet mouth;

I heard a muffled roar, and a wild cry,

A shriek, a fall.

I saw an uncouth form,

Matted with hair, stretched on the blood-stained earth;

And, in the darkness, darker than the night,

Another form uncouth, with matted hair,

Long-armed, like a gorilla, stooping low

Above his mate.

She did not move or breathe.