Poem
Nileometer "I'll march beneath your banner while fortune it do smile, And we'll comfort one another on the banks of the Nile." - Traditional Always drifting north My very name an anagram of Nile. Up on deck I watch That storied world sail by Linked to Ancient Egypt By filigree threads thinner than spider silk. Baladi cows stumble through meadows Eager to drink at the riverside As a lone fisherman In a cream galabiya Casts his net where his forebears stood. Exactly. Before stars appeared In the cool of early evening. Verdurous palms and papyrus stands skirt the shore Where brown children splash in Abyssinian waves, Now that the crocodiles have gone - Only their stuffed corpses at Kom Ombo Sprawled behind glass gathering dust. And beyond this green gullet of life Lies a forbidden land Of shortbread coloured crags And scorched sand Where scorpions hide and there is no water. Just a biblical wilderness Fit only for wandering prophets with delusions And griffon vultu...