<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Up The Niger<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">For the dirt poor, the river is riches.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">Anchored in mud, a man can</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">still skim the brown water for fish,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">a woman scrub her naked baby.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">Horse-drawn carts trudge back and forth</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">to its rotting jetty.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">The one cafe in town overlooks its hypnotic swirl.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">A baguette with butter and a view</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">of splashing children, goats drinking...</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">what more could a man ask for.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">I drop coins in the blind beggar’s cup,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">listen for a time to the tuneless singer.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">That current, the color of monkey crap,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">probably poison for all I know...</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">and yet, without it, this morning doesn’t exist.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">I’m not unfolding the week old newspaper.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">The Frenchman with the snowy beard</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">is not trying to cajole me into card games.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">The boy doesn’t laugh, the girl lifts her dress</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">up to her knees and wades out to a floating ball.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">I’d be home maybe, thinking to myself,</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">now where can I go where there’s a river.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">This place would never come to mind.</span><br style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">Without its flow, nothing would.</span></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- </span><span style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: rgb(34, 34, 34);" class="">John Grey</span></div></div></body></html>