.
Kakamega Forest, Kenya: photo by Doron, August 1999
The journey in darkness has a trivial jargon
For the cans of black coffee and ears like sprigs
Of an intelligent listening flower
This agitation is a kind of heavy wood
That you could hold a candle to
And never alter its unendurableness
There is nothing to do about voyaging
Fears except to jerk their brilliance
Out ahead of you like a rushlight like this
But what is illumined in the jungle large
Is a girl in narrow white sashes
Seated in your room at your writing desk
Afternoon sun, Mamfe, Cameroon: photo by Hans Kylberg, 31 January 2003
TC: In the Jungle Large (Dark Continent), Paris, April 1966, from The Sand Burg, 1966
