As I Paddled the River Nile

As I paddled the river Nile
I met a monstrous crocodile. 
She smiled at me enticingly.   
I smiled deferentially.  
Through large white teeth to me she said, 
"I want you in my river bed." 

"We are not acquainted enough
for such intimate, tasteless stuff," 
I cried.  A hippopotamus 
opined, "Hey, we're amphibious. 
We're inclined to romp through marshes; 
come, let's crush some reedy rushes." 

I paddled hard away.  The Nile 
now swirled by rapidly awhile
to the sea.  There where its two brinks 
grow apart it flows past a sphinx 
who lies prone and thinks endlessly 
deep thoughts about eternity. 

For eons and eons his mind 
thought thoughts about how to unbind 
gravity from mentality    
throughout universality, 
that we might freely float;  
no more need to paddle my boat.  

Unfortunately, he has no gumption 
to follow his least assumption; 
but we do chat on fluently
of, to wit, stuff way beyond me 
like hieroglyphic-ally writ 
papyri.  When he will not quit 

I wander alone to a tomb 
where lies Cleopatra, of whom 
each schoolgirl knows; how her last gasp 
came as she clasped to breast her asp. 
Grasp that story's significance
twixt geometry class and dance.

Whilst she patronymic-ally 
reigned, a most royal Ptolemy; 
she told Marc, "My new last 'nym' now'll
be 'Anthony'."  This, post her roll 
out, quite nude, from Julius' rug.  
His offer of sex met her mere shrug.  

I stood amid a pyramid 
or three and pondered where they hid, 
these pharaohs, all their treasury. 
Was power or mere pleasury 
their true architectural plan? 
To ever tell, no pharaoh can.  

These writs I write as my boat drifts
midst original hieroglyphs 
through the Mediterranean.  
I don't need a librarian  
to see, no sociology 
compares to Egyptology.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2011



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Date: 12/13/2011 10:42:00 AM
john i really like your humor in your writing very enjoyable keep it comming
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Date: 9/19/2011 6:45:00 PM
Now that i know there are crocdiles in the Nile, i don't think i would be paddling there alone! but it totally works for the poem and your drifting thoughts through time/egyptian history. a clever write and very entertaining!
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Date: 9/5/2011 4:52:00 PM
Great, I especially like stanza 5.
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Date: 8/31/2011 8:41:00 PM
What an amazing dance through history with all the characters to provide color. I love the humor in this and found it to be quite a story!
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Date: 8/31/2011 1:08:00 AM
You got so caught up in the research for this entry that you missed the entire contest. What a loss for Tracie! This has got it all. Get yourself a poetry secretary. lol. Gwendolen
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Date: 8/30/2011 11:14:00 PM
hmmm...a lovely write, indeed!
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Date: 8/29/2011 12:27:00 AM
transported was upon the nile, put a crinkle in me dial, thought that croc might cut you short, hippo interupted sport, thanks for the visit chile... Blaise Pascal's argument rocks:)
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Smith Avatar
John Smith
Date: 8/29/2011 9:43:00 AM
You've got even bigger crocs, need a bigger boat. it's too bad we come so long afta Cleopatra; she was a fun party girl. Thanks for the read.
Date: 8/28/2011 11:21:00 PM
Whimsical write coverning many topics, the pharos thought themselves God, then they died, isn' that odd. The part about the crocodile was entertaing, Cleopatra gave me a snicker....the whole lot of the Egypitans were an arrogant bunch of buggers, lol.....with love...old Jack
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Smith Avatar
John Smith
Date: 8/29/2011 9:47:00 AM
Arrogant buggers, the Egyptians, but we're laughing now. Old Ramses looks a dried prune. Thanks for the read.
Date: 8/28/2011 10:12:00 PM
hey, you did it like me, It looks kinda like limericks. Too bad you missed the deadline. You put so much work into it.
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John Smith
Date: 8/28/2011 11:10:00 PM
Yes, I loved yours. It's so fun to write these. Longer ones I have to leave for awhile or I can't see stuff. I started small, then it grew.
Date: 8/27/2011 11:38:00 PM
Interesting poem. Been there and seen the pyramids and Nile. Good fun your poem, but you wouldn't see me in the Nile. thanks for the write. Lee
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Smith Avatar
John Smith
Date: 8/29/2011 9:32:00 AM
Me too, long ago. Don't want to swim in it; stay in the boat. It was a fun write. Thanks for the read.
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