Odyssey From Africa 6e 7a
CHAPTER 6 (e, continued)
Though without communication
Spoken in symbolic language
Their gorilla hosts perceived it
And made ready for the parting
In a solemn mood of sadness
All the hominids assembled
In the clearing in the jungle
Where they had repulsed the python
Several of the leading females
Stepped up to the human family
Brought to Han a towering armful
Gifts of ripening fruits and berries
Kwona then herself came forward
To the silverback gorilla
Handed him two wooden carvings
One gorilla, one a human
In their likeness. Her twin children
Had produced these wooden sculptures
With their father Han's assistance;
And the boomerang was given
Also as a leaving present
All the male gorillas watching
Murmured in appreciation;
Then the human guests departed
Hiking downhill through the jungle
Keeping on a northward bearing
With the hope that in a few days
They would leave behind the forest
Whose close enveloping greenness
Was unnerving and oppressive
To the people of the coastland
Used to openness and sunlight
CHAPTER 7 (a)
Ipiki
Many days still lay before them
Navigating hills and valleys
Of this wide and close-knit forest;
On they journeyed till the evening
Halting as the shadows lengthened
Han and Matto set to working
To erect a simple tree-house
In the way of the gorillas
While the ladies looked for supper
Shiny tubers were uprooted
Bulbous rhizomes from the dark soil,
With some tender leafy plantains
These were baked above the embers
Of a fire that Han had kindled
Then came Rosy to the fireside
Bringing her own contribution
Held between now well grown canines
By the head, a snake was coiling
Weakly as the life ebbed from it;
Han dispatched it with his hatchet
Thus they dined on fulsome menu
Then ascending to the tree-house
After some short conversation
All slept peacefully till morning
On awaking Han was startled
By the strangest sight above him
All around the leafy foliage
Changed from green to black in colour!
Could this be a dreamed illusion?
Han was thinking; then a movement
Crossed the corner of his vision
As a snake crept through the branches
"Am I seeing" Han thought darkly
"Ghost return of last night's supper!?"
And the serpent, at that instant
Sprang into the leafy blackness
Han's half-sleeping baleful visions
Were dispelled by sudden movement
All the air was filled with bat-wings
Of the thousand tiny creatures
Copyright © Phil Salmon | Year Posted 2017
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment