On The Nile

Men spear fish in shallows Sand dunes rise endless near emerging cities Waves are a thousand flash bulbs going off A dhow with filthy sails (More holes than cloth) flaps like a goose Trailing a broken wing. Urchins paddle with tin trays, Baling water out of a home made boat. Cotton kaftans dry in the baking sun Brown boys splash in the shallows Round a broken pump, Children gather water in pots and tins. Green grasses, gashed by waters of the Nile; Beyond, the desert’s thighs are golden dust. The oxen up to their haunches in churned water, A black handbag floats past A swirl of effluent follows, A hiccup in the green and jewelled water. Sheep chew under Pepsi adverts Taxis career on land like flying coffins A horse, un-tethered whisks his tail by a shop. A donkey loaded with baggage, stoically Stumbles along a road of lorries. There are splashes of red hibiscus flowers, The heat, like a furnace, melts the flesh from your bones. Herons and horses’ legs are wafer thin Armed check points guard a honeycomb of houses. The cobra of lower Egypt is eating its own tail A vulture flaps in a tree, fanning the dead air. By the marble pool, by the sun-flecked water Bikini girls are done to a slow turn. The old men drinking tea, beneath tall palms, Black silhouettes on gold