Bali Hai Ku

BALI, INDONESIA

February, 2001

Selamat datang!
(We are guests
of  loud geckos
on cabana walls.)

                                    Balancing fruit baskets
                                    on their heads,
                                    they flow to the temple
                                    through crowded market.

Balinese girls,

as pretty and

graceful as a breeze,

shading their faces.

Hindu cows

their silent bells

so holy

Monkeys on temple steps:

Hindu gargoyles,

Hindu thieves.

Fish grilled

over burning

coconut husks

at sunset,

then Venus.

                              Quick feet across sand
                               into Indian Ocean:
                              Ah, De-Bintang!

                                                         Snaky trail in sand,
                                                         at its end,
                                                         a small hermit crab.



(Son and Father Renga, 2001)