#184 Kevin Brophy 'Clone on the River'

#184 ‘Clone on the River’

We stood on the bank beside the warning sign

Telling us that crocodiles use this stretch of water

And we would risk our lives if we bent to the water

Or stepped into it, or even leaned too far over it.

Each watery rock nudged above the waterline

Looked evil, calculating, more than half alive.

We did not see a crocodile, the wilderness slept on.

As we turned to go a low long growl came up along the river

And swung in above us, rider-less, brain-less,

Blinking and buzzing with its own form of malice.