Downstream
- Details
- Written October 2010
Dugout down the Zambezi
Wobbling with man-powered paddles
Under an equatorial sun
Doing its balancing act between horizons
Our melted margarine sandwiches unwrapped
As the Fish Eagle swoops down for lunch
Dodging hippos at the confluence
Beyond the Lozi capital
Heading for the plunge down crescents
Of Victoria’s smoke that thunders.
The canal dug out of the Llangollen hill
Carries the narrow-boat along
Chugging through the autumn noonday
Gliding downstream on created current
Dodging royalty’s swans pecking at crusts
Of left-over ham sandwiches
Swept away in the chevron of waves
As the travellers move forward peacefully
Leaving Horse Shoe Falls for Telford’s aqueduct
Safely above the Dee.
October 2010
While on the Llangollen Canal, memories of a 1978 trip down the Zambezi in a canoe from Chitokoloki to Mongu.
Photograph of Canoe on the Zambezi at Chitokoloki, by kind permission: Brass Tacks UK
Photograph of Canoe on the Zambezi at Chitokoloki, by kind permission: Brass Tacks UK