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Phil Salmon | + Follow Poet |
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Odyssey From Africa 10b

CHAPTER 10b, Hiatus, continued

Till a pebble thrown by Matto
Struck the creature on its forehead 
And it hissed in indignation 
Slinking off into the darkness 
 
When the morning sun resurfaced 
In a spectral ocean sunrise 
All the family rose from sleeping 
Bathed and freshened in the sea surf
 
Kwona then approached the stone pile
Where the octopus was buried
Snatched aside the still warm pebbles
And with Han's stone bladed hatchet 
 
Cut a tentacle in slices
As a powerful aroma
Rose out of the stone-lined oven
Redolent of well baked mollusc
 
As the family now assembled
Each received a goodly measure
Of baked octopus for breakfast 
Laid on plates of palm frond segments
  
Though each one ate all they wanted 
Ate till they could eat no longer 
They had eaten but a single 
Tentacle of that great creature 
 
For this reason Han decided 
They would stay for one day longer 
To rest up and make good use of
Their great store of roasted sea-flesh
 
So they lingered on the seashore 
Idly swimming in the shallows
And on octopus they feasted
Even tiring of its flavour 
 
Han continued with his carving
Of the boomerang replacement 
Lisa ran and played with Rosy,
Matto resting with Ipiki
 
Then at dusk they made a campfire 
Piled it high with fronds and branches 
Watched it fiercely blaze in silence 
Watched it settle to bright embers
 
Eyes reflecting flickering firelight 
As a peaceful night descended
And a million stars above them
Beckoned them to rise to heaven 

And to run on paths of starlight 
Each in their imagination
But the freedom of the night sky
Turned their hearts at last to sadness
 
They remembered their own kinsfolk
From their birth the friends and family
Who so savagely betrayed them
Made them flee for no wrongdoing 
 
Quietly they started singing
Folksongs of the seaside people 
Gentle harmonies and rhythms
Drifted out upon the night air
 
Then they slept around the embers
In the music of the nighttime 
Once again an hour past midnight 
The hyena came inquiring 
 
This time it was more determined 
To sniff out the roasted carcass
Not deterred by several pebbles 
Han threw at the prowling creature 
 
Finally he seized the boomerang 
That he had almost finished 
And he flung it fast and level
At the circling hyena
 
And again with angry screeching 
The hyena made its protest
Then ran off into the darkness 
Leaving blood drops on the shore stones

Copyright © Phil Salmon | Year Posted 2017

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