Member-only story
Austrian
Kenya — Silly poems for your backpack
Either two halves or a whole,
with a 1am start,
we chose the first and at night arrived here.
The last place, before our ascent,
The final push to the top,
When the land is far, and the sky is near.
Austrian Hut, and New Year’s Eve,
Four rooms, four beds,
Each with space for eight.
The hike here went fine,
The welcome was better,
I couldn’t have guessed at our fate.
The clock had struck 12,
But we went to sleep before,
I’d drank slightly too much tea.
I grabbed someone’s light,
Slipped out of the room,
Into the darkness outside for a pee.
I didn’t want to wander far,
It was cold and dark,
One, two, three, my sock was wet.
It was warm too, I knew,
Someone had the same idea,
Without shoes, but now with regret.
Never mind, a bit of piss,
Socks off and back to bed,
It turned out worse for my friend.
You see, at this height,
Breathing changes, you feel weird,
The altitude can send you round the bend.
He’d opted to sleep outside,
In a tent to enjoy it all,
But he had forgotten one trick.
The art of the zip is very key,
When escaping a tent,
Especially when you’re about to be sick.
He awoke on the 1st of Jan,
Dehydrated, tired and a mess,
You should have seen his tent.
Up at 5, nonetheless,
Headtorches on,
No time to repent…
While I travel, I enjoy writing a bit of poetry, mostly silly stuff, but all to remember the fun I had.
I publish them all on Medium, so check out my other poems here.
Please feel free to subscribe for my stories direct to your email too, I only post twice a week.
