Remember Catherine Oddie
The career her mum had mapped out for her did not work out to plan
For Catherine went to Kenya and married a Maasai man
She adapted to a different sort of culture and a different way of life
And to the noble Robert she's a devoted wife.
A different sort of lifestyle but a good life just the same
Remember Catherine Oddie how can one forget that name
She went from Melbourne to Africa for a brief holiday
But life is unpredictable and it's always been that way.
That a white woman should embrace the Maasai culture is not hard to understand
For the Maasai love their cattle and the Maasai love their land
And the Maasai live in harmony in their souls no room for greed
And the countryside around them supplies them with their need.
She fell in love with Kenya and with the Maasai clan
And with the warrior Robert a kind and gentle man
She embraced a foreign culture and she left her past behind
And in a distant continent her soul mate she did find.
Her holiday in Africa to a new life did lead
And her book on her life with the Maasai makes a memorable read
She adapted to a different lifestyle but a good life just the same
And remember Catherine Oddie who can forget her name.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Maasai Country
Across the hills, across the plains,
The Maasai people roam,
Sometimes to pause for short term gain,
Sometimes to build a home...
They hate our modern stress and strife
And flash technology,
They'd much prefer the simpler life,
The way life's meant to be.
Their vibrant coloured garments share
The fashion sense they own...
They have an independent air,
Such that they are well-known...
They fight for rights they still possess,
Just like all people do...
They want their share of happiness,
The old ways and the new.
What right have we to undermine
The ways they've lived for years?
What right have we to think it's fine
To bring their children tears?
So live and let live, that's my stance,
Our world is theirs as well...
Together we all stand a chance,
Each with a tale to tell...
Denis Martindale, copyright, February 2011.
The poem is based on the magnificent painting
by Stephen Gayford called 'Maasai Country'.
More Stephen Gayford poems here:
denis-martindale-dot-blogspot-dot-com
poem by Denis Martindale
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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She'd Love To Live In Africa
She'd love to live in Africa in the land of the Maasai
And with the tribal people dance under the moonlit sky
The rhythmic drummer beats his drum and the dancers rock and sway
She'd love to live in Africa twelve thousand miles away.
The hungry male lions cough and roar in the African night
And the sounds of galloping hooves and zebras whinnying in fright
And the elephants are trumpeting and the the wild hyaenas
scream
And to live in distant Africa has always been her dream.
She's never been to Africa but she can visualize
The fish eagles are circling o'er the lake she hear their cries
And a flock of beautiful flamingos of ten thousands birds or more
Are feeding in the shallows just in from the lake shore.
All documentaries on Africa she watches on T.V.
And she'd love to live in that great Land amongst the wild and free
But time is running out on her she now is sixty two
And her dream of life in Africa for her may not come true.
Her brain urge her to walk and jog but her legs will not obey
And she won't be going to Africa twelve thousand miles away
A long time paraplegic she sits in her wheel chair
And she dreams of distant Africa 'doesn't life seem so unfair'.
poem by Francis Duggan
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Be as familiar with observation as you are with the place you live.
You know what to say, but you do not know what you might be told.
It is better to be poor and live long than to be rich and die young.
It is impossible to find a man who has everything, but it is possible tofind one who enjoys the things he has.