A Poem

I was poking around the Internet last night, and came across this poem on the website for Blixen's Africa safari website (Karen Blixen, aka Isak Dinesen, wrote Out of Africa on which the Sydney Pollack film is based).


"Africa" by Emily Dibb

When you've acquired a taste for dust,
The scent of our first rain,
You're hooked for life on Africa
And you'll not be right again
Till you can watch the setting moon
And hear the jackals bark
And know that they're around you,
Waiting in the dark.

When you long to see the Elephants,
Or to hear the coucal's song,
When the moonrise sets you blood on fire,
You've been away too long.
It's time to cut the traces loose
And let you're heart go free
Beyond that far horizon,
Where your spirit yearns to be.


http://www.blixensafrica.com/index.html

The poem reminds me a lot of the John Masefield poem, "I must go down to the sea again" for its romanticization of life in Africa just as Masefield romanticizes life at sea. The Masefield poem, while certainly beautiful, I quickly learned was not what being at sea was all about: there was no mention of the smells of a boat, the pains of sea sickness, the glories of getting on hand and knee and scrubbing each little corner below decks with a toothbrush.

So, though I myself dream of and imagine being met with those beautiful images of Dibb's poem, I still wonder what Africa will really be like. I know that Timi doesn't like the oppressive heat, and made the great suggestion that I bring some trash novels with me since I won't have the energy to read anything too intellectual in such hot conditions. But right now, I still don't think anything can be worse than trying to stand watch for four hours at night when you've been up since 5am, spent most of the day lying on the deck trying to fight the nausea, have thrown up twice, have taken promethazine which is putting you to sleep, and are about to throw up again. But that's just my opinion.