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.

IMG_1973

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)

 

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