POEM: To a Chameleon

(Based on a Zambian proverb)

Wall-eyed,
splay-toed
nadzingkambe,
nameless,
boring
lizard-thing,
slower
than the
slowest
beetle,
lacking
fang or
claw or sting,

Watching
danger
coming
toward you
while you
watch more
overtake--
poor de-
fenseless
nadzingkambe,
surely
you are
God's mistake.

Useful
for an
idle
schoolboy,
girls to
tease and
bets to win,
hidden
in a
trouser
pocket,
dark as
lint your
matching skin,

Uassuming
nadzingkambe--
joke a-
like of
kid and
king.
If you're
ugly,
nadzingkame,
nadzingkambe,
learn to
sing.


(Written 1990)