Many years ago, when I was a volunteer non-combatant in South Africa’s apartheid war against Namibia,
I experienced a life-enriching phenomenon, which I would like to share with my fellow poets in this corner of the galaxy…
Why share? Well, I find myself a party to combat again, and introspection of how to peacefully settle the matter brought this incident to memory…,
Its serving me well now, just as it did several decades ago…


I was standing guard unarmed on ‘my’ side of the Zambezi,
On the other side was the ‘enemy’, of course…,
My fellow-soldiers, who for some unknown reason liked me, used to daily jibe me about ‘defending’ my country with my eyes, rather than an FN assault rifle…,
Fire was often exchanged between the Zambians and the South Africans across the mighty and drop-dead gorgeous Zambezi…,
Which, mind you, did not seem to deter the local crocodile and hippopotamus congregations, for whom life went on as usual…,
Neither did it stop the exotic fish eagles from emitting their haunting and beautiful cry as they fished daily at sundown…

However, to my utter astonishment, it did not deter another hardy trio,
Every day around sundown, a daddy, a mommy and a little girl with fiery blond hair, would come chugging along in their little fishing boat between the two groups in this war-zone,
The crocodiles leering hopefully at them…, and their fishing lines hanging overboard…

At first, my logical and protective mind criticized the parents for being irresponsible, but, a little reflection showed me that here were two advanced beings teaching us that the only thing to fear is fear…,
And that there are no ‘other sides’ to the Zambezi,
Just the eternal tranquil expanse,
On which, for fun, we get to choose our reality,
Peace or conflict…
May we all ‘requiescat in pace’ this side of the far side as well, instead of waiting for the other phenomenon…