BOTSWANA: A PARADISE FAR FROM THE HUMAN JUNGLE
THE HUMAN RACE
BOTSWANA: A HALF-A-WORLD-AWAY
I sit on the veranda
a half-a-world-away
watching the golden sun
in its last breath of day
filter through silhouetted leaves
of the ebony and acacia trees,
then quickly fall beneath
the silent Chobe River
leaving nothing but stars
guarding Venus
and her lantern moon.
And not too soon,
I marvel at the distance
I’ve traveled to get
where thoughts run free,
a half-a-world-away
from what is home to me.
To reach this
untamed place,
was such a human race.
After an eternity of soaring
on man-made wings,
I found this hideaway
where elephants
rule as kings.
Where lions make love
for hours on end,
where pythons
coil, constrict and bend.
Giant Tuskers trumpet
and hippos bellow
in this
wild-animal bordello.
Leopards hunt,
warthogs grunt.
Zebra, giraffe,
Cape buffalo,
they all play host
on this fertile land
that has no coast.
As eagles work the breeze,
scores of vultures
perch high
on limbs of trees.
Mosquitoes sting.
Myriad birds sing
in glorious cacophony.
They hoot and caw and chirp
in their inimitable
high-pitched harmony.
Crickets
tuned just right
play their
Stradivarius legs
throughout the night.
For those who must return
to their civilized encampment,
where plastic reigns
and torment gains,
Botswana is
enchantment.
A visit
permits a glimpse
at secrets we’ve been
blind to.
A moment just to ponder
was well worth
the wander.
Flying half way
round the world
aboard a 747,
proved to me,
at least:
It takes time
to get to heaven.
— Boots LeBaron —
(Overlooking the Chobe River,
a tributary of the Zambezi River
in southern Africa’s Botswana)