THE JUNGLE BREATHES TONIGHT

THE JUNGLE BREATHES TONIGHT

By Marguerite Miles

The Jungle breathes tonight, as the last speck of light dims to gracefully blend into the darkness of night, lighted only by the star filled sky.  As this is taking place the Crickets begin their singing in a passive, peaceful humming.  It reaches your ear and hangs there like sounds of breathing in the background only to be broken by the more vocal rendition of the frogs.  Mike, mike, mike, mike!  It starts and stops in unison all through the night letting you know that this is the world of night.

The Tapir enters without fear, into this place of protective darkness to feed on mangoes and other fruit that have fallen during the day.  They are joined for their nightly feast by the Gibnut, Agouti and many other species.  These animals can also breathe peacefully and quietly and know all is well in their jungle.  While we, who abide within our wooden walls of safety, sleep while the Jungle breathes.

This sleep is at times interrupted and we become aware of the call of the Howler monkeys and while we do not fully awake we are completely aware in our perhaps subconscious state of sleep that the howl subsides into a sound of deep breathing.  A breathing almost like a prayer of praise being hummed as the first glimpse of light breaks through the dark to welcome the morning and the start of a new day.

As this deep and comforting breathing continues it is so easy to fall asleep again once more and our mind tells us we can close our eyes for at least one more hour because all has been well with the breathing in our Jungle tonight.  For here, there is wonderful harmony between us and our friends who live in our beautiful Jungle.