Odyssey From Africa 14f
Odyssey from Africa 14f
This colossal ratite was the
Largest bird on all the planet
It would live on Madagascar
Till the time of William Shakespeare
“Let me tell you” said the monarch
Quietly pleased at Han’s reaction
“What I find to be most curious,
Something hinting at a mystery
“Of the many birds and creatures
Which inhabit our great island
Very few can be encountered
Living on the westward mainland
“All the lemurs of the forest
And the savage golden fossa
Massive towering baobab trees and
Spiny forests of our dry-lands
“All appear to be exclusive
to our lonely Island Kingdom
Different from their mainland cousins
Like the starry yellow orchid
“Like our purple periwinkle
With its gentle star-like calyx
Fishes of our lakes and rivers
And a host of birds and beetles.
“Could it be that isolation
On this ocean-circled island
Moulded life by adaptations
Suited to our island living?
“So that life forms are not constant
But can slowly grow divergent
Over countless generations?
This would be a thing most wondrous!
“Furthermore, our scholars tell me
That our island’s western shoreline
In its colours, forms and textures
Bears a very close resemblance
“To the rocky coastal hillsides
Over on the western mainland
Whispering to us a mystery:
Did an ancient hand of heaven
“With a vast titanic strength once
Rend our country from the mainland?
Pull this isle across the sea
To exile at the edge of sunrise?”
In the counter facing section
Of the great museum hallway
There were several rows of tables
And by some of these were seated
Scholars who examined closely
Specimens in trays or bottles
Kept in clear preserving spirits
Alcohol from distillation
At one table several scholars
Carefully worked with tools of metal
Chipping rocks and slabs of limestone
To uncover forms of creatures
Fossil prints within the rocks of
Animals and plants so ancient
That no human ever saw them
Windows on forgotten ages
But King Ptolemy now beckoned
Han toward another table
Where there sat a girl apprentice
Her first season as a scholar
She examined twigs and branches
That were piled up on her table
Working to identify them
Writing symbols onto fabric
Now and then she left her table
Walking over to the cabinets
To compare one of her samples
With a reference on exhibit
Then the king picked up one twiglet
That was smooth and pale in colour
It had washed up on the shoreline
Having long been in the ocean
Copyright © Phil Salmon | Year Posted 2018
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