JUNGLE

Beware of elephants the road signs said,

Beneath hills crowned with temples of strange gods,

Near jungles where soldiers’ blood once was shed.

The weathered cuttings crumbled dirty red,

Unseen breezes inspired trees’ sways and nods,

Beware of elephants the road signs said.

An access path wound like a silken thread

Around the slopes farmed in recurring quads,

Near jungles where soldiers’ blood once was shed.

Somewhere were trenches dug by foes now dead,

Freedom fighters, loyalist army squads,

Beware of elephants the road signs said.

A high peak pierced blue sky like a spearhead,

Verdure painted the same green as peapods,

Near jungles where soldiers’ blood once was shed.

How many raw youths were cruelly misled

And tricked into battles against all odds?

Beware of elephants the road signs said,

Near jungles where soldiers’ blood once was shed.

SCOTCH VILLAINY

I love the crack of whisky breaking ice

And the whisper of this water of life,

Staining glass with burnished gold once, twice, thrice.

It moves me to a place so cool and nice

Where calm replaces misfortune and strife;

I love the crack of whisky breaking ice.

I know some wowsers see it as a vice

But they know nought of this substitute wife,

Staining glass with burnished gold once, twice, thrice.

I am addicted to the malt and spice

And peat that chants of pipes and drums and fife;

I love the crack of whisky breaking ice.

There are times when I would pay any price

For this elixir of the afterlife,

Staining glass with burnished gold once, twice, thrice.

But I’m not fussy, nor am I precise;

I’ll drink cheap and common and rough and rife.

I love the crack of whisky breaking ice,

Staining glass with burnished gold once, twice, thrice.

MONSOON

It's hottest just before the rain comes down

From the mountains of clouds stacked grey and black,

A gift from heaven’s skies to this parched town.

Forecasts are framed by faux experts who frown,

Describing nothing but the past come back,

It’s hottest just before the rain comes down.

Thunder sounds alarums like a loud clown,

And drops explode on the roof of our shack,

A gift from heaven’s skies to this parched town.

The sun vanishes fearing it might drown

And the shade sheds respite from heat’s hard rack,

It’s hottest just before the rain comes down.

Rivers swell and swerve and swirl khaki brown

Like camouflaged armies on the attack,

A gift from heaven’s skies to this parched town.

Like verses by a poet of renown

Nature’s cycle wheels on a rhythmic track;

It’s hottest just before the rain comes down,

A gift from heaven’s skies to this parched town.