THE SWALE

By the railway line,

Where it crossed a culvert,

There was a shady swale

And a stagnant, shallow pond

Beneath a wiry willow tree.

For some reason I was curious,

So I looked into the still water

And I saw the ancient shapes –

Two green crocodiles submerged –

One a small adult,

The other youthful and pert,

Both at rest, but both alert.

There was a young woman

Relaxing on the grassy bank,

Dangling her feet in the water,

Tempting, it seemed to me,

Those cruel reptiles to attack.

So I warned her of the danger

But she laughed,

Closing her eyes to doze

And drifting away in her dreams.

I thought of my neighbours,

Who walked their dogs

Beside these murky streams,

And I visited them

To report the predators’ presence.

Now, their property was a place

Of horrors for me,

For they kept exotic fish in tanks

And clammy, carnivorous creatures in pits.

Among the menagerie were monsters –

Amphibians with round, gaping mouths

Full of razor teeth that dripped venom.

One of these beasts followed me home

And tried to trap me on my threshold

As I fumbled with my front door keys,

So I screamed in fright at my plight.

Then a tiny, ginger cat appeared -
Domesticated or feral

I could not be sure –

But, with a savage lunge,

It slashed open the underbelly

Of my cold-blooded assailant.

And, after a short time,

The feline proceeded to dine

On the freak's lifeless flesh.

FLAMINGOS AT NGORONGORO

From afar I perceived the pink

As a sprinkle across the brink

Of a pool, so mirrored, so blue

That its hue made me think

About shallow Oceanic shores -
Warm waters of former lifetimes -

And the clear eyes of women

From more clement climes.

Blessed by closer inspection

I watched the flamingos frolic

With flair that flouted the threats

In this crater of insurrection,

Where blushing birds are prey

To hungry hunters watching

In every shadowy place

On every flawless sunlit day.