Mount Lavinia, Colombo

Sipping iced tea beside the outdoor pool (Blue’s a sapphire, clearer than a tear) Is an excellent view of Colombo’s sweeping bay. Coconut palms like raffia matting frayed by many feet Wallop the heat. The Indian Ocean beats Its dirty washing on the beach. Rag pickers strip the rocks of shirts and saris Imported by the tide, free hand-me-downs Plucked by the waves from Pondicherry, maybe, or Madras The breeze is fragrant. Germans, British smile Waiters bow and circulate with trays. In the British governor’s mansion 300 dollars a night buys a bug free bed And a flunky wearing Kaiser Wilhelm’s hat. Crows dine first class unhindered, off fat pickings Unhassled by the staff. This is a Buddhist country Hard by the beach, the trains run punctually The human cargo packaged like sardines, Hangs from the window gulps what it can of air