I Have Seen The World

I have seen the whole world

I have seen all that eyes can see

I am not new to Nigeria,

Neither am I strange to Scotland

Once I placed an elbow in Eritrea

And set one foot in France.

I played hide-and-seek with the pyramids of Egypt

Shared a bottle of beer with the Nile

And left for Mecca with Tutankhamen`s crown.

Ghana begged me with a thousand bags of gold--

Armed with chopstick in both hands

China chased me out of her gate.

In Britain the Queen at a conference

Conferred on me the knighthood.

In India I basked in the bowel of Indus

And won ten elephants from Brahma`s faithfuls.

Women in Ivory Coast weaved a welcome dance

Libya threw stones at me because I stared

On her pretty daughters who passed by in a queue.

In Tonga I ruled as king for two days

Then left for Iceland where I shivered in snow

Inside the eleven clothes I wore.

I have seen the Eskimos who dwell in Alaska,

The Aborigines of Australia.

I have set my boots on the ice of Antarctica

I have seen the Pygmies in the wilderness of Congo

strolled beyond the Himalayan mountains

Seen the roaring rear of the Mississippi.

I have been to Brazil, Burma, the USA

And have shopped beyond the true bargain of the equator.

I have been to the end of the world

To where the sun never sets

To the country where rain never stops falling.

I have flown across all the rivers,

Ponds, canals, swamps and oceans

Wandered through phantom forests

Wood smokes and landscapes that disappeared

Like illusions from my sub-conscious mind

And sometimes I stroll past places that look

Like memories of my childhood

Stuck in a photo frame.

I have seen the whole world

But shall I return, will I come back,

When there is nothing for my eyes to see?