I think they grew in paradise
Long and lean the tall palms lurch, to left and right
in drunken disarray
ringed with ridges, so strong feet, prehensile
can grip to clamber upward
where the leaves as fans wave and sway
and coconuts are clumped.
The strangest tree, surely impossibly designed
but everywhere thriving, multiplied in groves, and bountiful
fibre, milk and flesh, the leaves for shelter/shade
iconic on the shore, white sands and water warmed,
a desert island dream.
I think they grew in paradise
and here, profuse, in Sri Lanka's teardrop
pearl-drop, once was Serendip,
loveliest of lands.
5th February 2016, Morning Star hotel, Mirissa Beach, Sri Lanka
