Entries in The Crocodile Prize

Highlands Highway

BY JEFFREY FEBI

From sparkling seas I saw it emerge,

And hurries onto Ramu and Markham too

Warmth gathers from the sun for strength;

Then clambers Kassam Pass in snaky moves

And marvel at waters of the Yonki Dam;

And then gently ascends to Daulo Pass,

And carefully crawls up to descending

Clouds; puffing and coughing, while heavily

Breathes in winding and grinding ways;

Then zigzags across pearly rocks and into

The Waghi Valley and swiftly meanders

In smooth strides past bearded Kange,

And at Togoba a thoughtful sigh it utters:

To part into two of a road and still be one,

That majestically traverses New Guinea

With a name known in far flung islands.

Waiting for Kadesh

BY ICARUS

Kadesh, we are waiting for you

Your first breath will be our sweetest memory

Your first footsteps will be an adventure into our life

We will give to you everything that we are

Our hopes will be your certainty

Our dreams will become your reality

Your aspirations will be our fantasy

Your life will become our eternity

When your hands reach to touch

You will first have us to hold

When you cry at night, we will hear you

When you awaken, we will be watching

We will comfort you when the thunder rolls

We will succor you when the night falls

We will love you with the passion from which you were born

Will you be bold? Are you not already in our hearts?

Will you be beautiful? Are you not already so?

You are for us, fulfillment in a hollow world

Where peace is more oft lost than found

And so much hatred and fear abounds

All we ever have against this is love

Our love, which you will evidence

Kadesh, we are waiting for you.

I was lowered into solitary

BY JEFFREY FEBI

I was lowered into solitary;

Perfumed and robed in fine linen

Though my journey has ended,

And the sun ran from me;

Still, who'd my perfume like

And my attire admire;

When only I would inhabit?

Darkness here would be imprisoned,

And silence would be without life!

Perhaps, to decay I'd plead

For time, that I may in my attire

Rest well before I yield my identity.

O maggots! Maggots! Must I,

Remind you all to spare my brain;

Even in this dark lonesome,

Beauty, I’d still want to perceive.