The forest vibrates

With a deep humming sound

That clearly overpowers the senses

Of the startled passers- by;

The loud buzz filters through the vertical thickets

Of gnarled trees,

Tall sentinels

Stripped and still,

In this time of the year,

On both sides of

The serpentine highway in the middle

Of the dull brown-coloured jungle;

The bleak landscape comes suddenly alive,

For the curious child, peeping out of the

Window of the pricey car, speeding up the sharp incline;

It is as if thousands of bees had been released abruptly

On the dry wood and parched-up plain, ceaselessly chorusing

In a long monotone that won’t subside,

The haunting orchestra being performed by the swarms of

The dog day cicadas that are

Invisible to human eye, but very persistent in their collective

Calls for their mates of the species,

That can be heard for a mile;

The music is so strange, and, loud,

Piercing the quiet of the mid-summer idyllic scene.