Namibia Poems

SOUTHERN NAMIBIA.

I didn’t know a desert ever

could be so desolate

or a wasteland ever 
be so bare.

The road runs on and on

smooth straight and black

across a pale and pinkish emptiness.

In the distance yellow humps

of dunes rise up

and blue hills edge

a sun-bleached sky.

ETOSHA GAME PARK

Driving across the plain we see

how sun on the dry grass makes it glow.

Scattered around are sparse green thorny bushes.

In one of them a leopard is hiding,  

a spotty face between the speckled leaves.

All day we’re overwhelmed by sightings,

huge herds of wildebeest and oryx

fat, stripy zebra, tall giraffe and lots

of little springbuck

prancing.

At evening while we’re sitting,

silent by the water-hole,

a group of thirsty antelopes

is forced to move

because an elephant platoon

has come here, marching, slow

along the wide, well-trodden path

to have a splash and slurp

before the sun goes down.

SWAKOPMUND

Bits of the old German town remain
between the blatant modern buildings.
All is clean and friendly,with
a Continental look and
a Teutonic tidiness.
And nearby there are saltpans
pink and white, flamboyant with
flamingoes.