In my village in Africa
we live in tree-houses in the summer
but in winter we go to the old scots castle from the eighteen hundreds
In my village in Africa
we drink from the river
and as children we play naked with lion cubs
so we can walk free in the wild as adults unafraid
In my village in Africa
we cook only on aromatic wood-fire
and the greatest people are poets and musicians
we walk everywhere and the
(machines: we threw them in the lake)
We say that life is too short to worry about much more
than the rain or sunshine or dancing in time
it takes too long for love to be any more than
sweet sublime
The only romance
is in the starshine
and even that is confined to the zodiac
and when the night is clear
we can all still see Orion
arch his back and fire his arrows
to any corner of the world
Even the tiniest mouse is unsafe
from Orion's tricks and quakes
and afro-dizzy-aches