Ginger William of Orange (i)

Dedicated to CALVIN (Co-owner of Kingfisher2) with deep admiration.

 Ginger William of Orange, aka Ginger, or Fizzy Willy, or Fizzy

This will serve as introduction
To forthcoming reproduction
Of a series blogged before
On a site I post no more.

Here’s a tale of how a cat
Joined an expedition that
Once in lifetime chanced to be:
Days when one could wander free
Through the wonders of this land;
Few, alas, now understand
Times like that, which were so dear,
When one travelled without fear,
Stopping when the impulse took,
Never any fearful look
At what dangers there might be
From some crazed humanity.

Out our family of four
Set, and then there came one more,
In an unexpected way,
On a memorable day.

South West Africa the scene
Where no cat had ever been:
First, Fish River Canyon’s slopes
Sharing in our New Year hopes
Through the Namib – quite a gamble! –
Luderitz, and coastal ramble.

On to wonders he has been
Which no longer can be seen,
Even through to Windhoek, where
We were given quite a scare
Till, to Orange River banks
We returned him, with deep thanks;
Ginger Will of Orange, he –
Water’s where he’d want to be.

© Colonialist September 2013 (WordPress) (Letterdash 2007)