Leopard: Picture, Painting, Poem! Poem by Denis Martindale

The leopard almost hid that night
Except I saw him there,
Beneath the silvered moon's soft light,
A precious sight so rare.
My camera takes these dark snapshots,
When on my hunt I roam,
For any leopard and its spots
Mean pictures I take home.

The stars gave some light of their own,
For leopards and for me,
Amid the realm of Heaven's Throne,
Upon God's tapestry.
A wondrous background to behold,
As if to set the scene,
Another midnight story told
Wherever life has been.

The leopard stared both left and right,
More poses to portray,
Sometimes with twinkling eyes so bright,
Each time it faced my way.
But I kept silent, motionless,
No chance to catch me out,
While he maintained his loneliness
With no prey seen about.

When he moved on, I could retreat,
Completely without harm,
No chance for he and I to meet,
So no cause for alarm.
And once back home, the camera shared
A treasure trove at last,
A great reward because I cared
And caught all that had passed.

I'll paint new portraits soon enough,
Such splendour to reveal,
Of wildlife that I've come to love
And thus I can't conceal.
Each detailed painting fit for sale,
Across the world in time,
Then shared by Denis Martindale
In poems proved sublime.


Denis Martindale.14th August 2026.


Here is another Stephen Gayford wildlife poem by the Poemhunter poet Denis Martindale. In this leopard poem, Denis explains how the UK wildlife artist Stephen Gayford would travel the world in search of incredible close-up photographs for his future wildlife paintings.

Several years ago, Denis emailed Stephen, and the artist told him that he would read the poems as he painted his pictures.

This new poem acknowledges that photographs have helped create new paintings just as the poet's poems did. Inspiration is often blessed by technology and Internet resources, and while the emails shared such thoughts, hopes and dreams all those years ago, they blessed both the artist and the poet.