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Africa,
When I have to leave you This jewel of a continent In this land where man was born And I am at customs Where I must declare What I have taken away with me. I shall still keep secret All the golden days The silver nights The huge opal moon Even the delta's lily necklace, I shall not divulge. Nor shall I reveal my knowledge Of the aquamarine African skies The gems of local lore From the guides and from Bill I'll treasure always the ruby glow Of many happy sundowns The distant emerald horizons Full of topaz light upon the tree tops. |
I will not discuss my travels
Over miles of waterways Rich with 90 day papyrus reeds And full of a million future flowers... A promise of the wealth ahead. All these things I shall keep for myself. And I won't show them my diamond-less hands For fear they might discover The precious African dust Yet under my fingernails - And then they will begin to suspect How enriched I have become Here - on this jewel of a continent - The land where man was born. Africa! |
Header art by T. Guzzio. Original photo by D. Benjamin.
CONNECT WITH WENDY:
This poem, "Clearing Customs", by Wendy Gifford, was inspired by a trip to South Africa when she was poling around in the Okavango Delta in a mokoro, (a dugout canoe), covered with thousands of stick bugs and followed by a cloud of pesky no-see-ems. It was jotted down with a borrowed pencil on the blank sides of her American Express charge slips as she paddled along, lest she forget her musings before returning at dusk to camp. Wendy lives in Connecticut with her husband, Gerald. Her email address is wendytgifford@gmail.com.
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