The Secret & Riddles of the Sphinx

I've had just enough time to...  learn the secret of the Sphinx

In Las Vegas, I could not decipher the secrets of the Sphinx...

In the land of sand and gold

I was stopped by a Sphinx of old who

Asked riddles to pass or be devoured

“What creature has one voice

And is four-footed, two and three?”

“Oh, Man!” I exclaimed,

What answer can I give to that?

The Sphinx looked up in surprise

The correct answer I had supplied

For man crawls on fours, walks on two

And in old age the cane makes three

The next question was about sisters,

“One gives birth to the other

And, she gives birth to the first.

Who are the sisters two?"

If I were to think “Night and Day”

I thought out loud, I could not say

The Sphinx stood up on all fours

Surveyed me curiously and said

“Only one last riddle remains,

Answer and you will not be slain”

because I cannot tell the real from the illusion.

“Would you love a creature hideous

To save or kill for your own sake?”

That is no riddle but a trick

Either answer will be a mistake

If I were to die, it might as well be for “love!”

And I gave that to the Sphinx straight

With a mighty roar, she sprang

My eyes closed waiting for her fangs

Over my head she flew and dashed hers

Against the rock it smashed

I lived to tell this tale

But I cannot give you an end for

I never discovered the Sphinx’s secret.

In The Morning When The Moon Is At Its Rest

I've had just enough time to...   walk the mist in the morning

 Taken one early morning when the world is still shrouded in mist in Hanoi

In the morning

When the bird is still in its nest

And the world still at rest

Peaceful under a blanket of mist

Soothed by a mother’s kiss

I walk a path half imagined

Taking it all on the chin

The sun is not yet up

To serve reality in a cup

To sear through the mist

And smack me with its fiery fist

The sun did me no service

There can be no promise

With gaze as sharp as steel

Leaving no room to steal

An idea from the God

That he left for the poor sod

Who survive the bloody scrum

To retrieve from the squalid slum

I need the blurry landscape

I need the world of indistinct shapes

I need to silence the lambs

The silence to silence the violence

And this is best done in the early morning mist

In the morning when the moon is at it's rest, 

You will find me at the time I love the best

Watching rainbows play on sunlight; 

Pools of water iced from cold night, In the morning.

Tis the morning of my life.

Bee Gees - In The Morning

Monkeys Becomes Man, Men to be Blamed

I've had just enough time to...  see monkey becomes man

Taken of the mischievous monkey in The Monkey Forest, Bali

Monkeys see, Monkeys do

Monkeys learn

Monkeys eat

Monkeys drink

Monkeys rummage

Monkeys beg

Monkeys snarl

Monkeys steal

Monkeys run

Monkeys bully

Monkeys snatch

Monkeys scramble

Monkeys mob

Monkey becomes man

Men to be blamed

The Crocodile Behind The Man

I've had just enough time to...   see the crocodile behind the man

Taken while taking a walk back to my hotel in Kuching, Sarawak.

I saw the man

But not the crocodile behind

When I did see it

It was already too late

It had its jaw on my leg

Before it dragged me

Into its murky depth

I wonder

How is it

I saw the man

But not the monster

Behind the man

Part I – I Dreamt of Elephants

I've had just enough time to...   dream of elephants.

Found this colourful elephant during one of my aimless wandering in Bangkok

I dreamt of elephants

One stood in my way

And would not budge

No matter how I pushed

And huffed and puffed

I used all my strength plus my will

But what is it to an elephant’s bulk

There are things that cannot be pushed

Like an elephant that refused to move

I walked to the elephant’s ear

Whispered into it earnestly

And saw its eyes blinked

It listened to the stories

Dredged from my belly

Pushed itself off the ground

And walked away just like that

I dreamt of elephants and learnt

The only way you can move an elephant

Is to move its heart

_______

The Elephant Song - Kamahl

Tell me said the elephant 

Tell me brothers if you can 

Why all the world is full of creatures 

Yet we grow in fear of man 

Tell me said the elephant 

tell me why this has to be 

we have to run from man and hunter 

never safe and never free