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River Cruise

(Or: The Tiger I Never Saw)

The Sundarban*, Bangladesh

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On a spit of sand

On what seemed the earth’s

End on a river coursing from Khulna

Into the far-off Bay of Bengal, 

After sailing overnight between 

Endless expanses of mangrove,

After being warned that only

The luckiest (and the quietest

And most behaved) of tourists 

Were granted a rare glimpse

Of the elusive tiger of Bengal,

We found two pairs of spoors:

Feline and ungulate, paws with claws

And cloven hooves. The guide 

Pointed them out to us.

Sunderban2.JPG

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           We had no way of knowing,

Nor had need to know. Perhaps

They were out only to sun themselves, 

Creatures of instinct. Unlike us, 

Souls lost in the wilderness, 

Feeling small between black sand 

And roar of surf, between random 

Debris of palm and driftwood 

And the hazy horizon, as we cast 

Our long shadows before retreating 

To the shelter of our cruising barge 

To sail back into the sunset, so we could

Wake before dawn in Khulna, and ride 

Our comfy tourist bus back into 

Dhaka’s dust-gray urban embrace.

 

 

Marne Kilates

26 January 2020  

 

 

For my travel friends, Visit Bangladesh Programme, 2019

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*The Sundarban is the largest mangrove forest in the world, while Bangladesh

itself is in the huge Ganges delta, which is formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers.

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           Were the paws 

In pursuit? Or was each of them 

Prowling the beach at different 

Times, each perhaps a dream of its 

Own existence, sniffing at the universe, 

And each going back to graze or 

Retire unseen in their nests 

Among the thickets, under low 

Branches, one stepping weightless 

In undisturbed peace, the other

Biding his eternity for prey, 

Tyger tyger burning bright 

In the gnarled maze of the Sunderban

Twilight? 

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