Beavertown in Egypt

The Beaver is making his digs

Indirectly assisting Hippos ferrying over 

Desert Dunes near the banks amongst twigs

What? A new pipeline crossing, Dude!

Floating on the Nile the 

Beaver slaps its tail

It booms 

The sound from that slap sends 

Fear across its neighbours

A tail always ready to whack

A tail threatened can overreact.

What to do?  What for? 

Spit out some Cold Peanuts -or just any plain ol' nut 

Step and crunch on it

There's a buzz overhead 

Just by the shore.

Fire! Bang Bang! Let's even the score.

We are south of the Straight of Hormuz

This courageous beaver,

Swims underwater -without a snorkel

Bubbling, artfully making a comeback to the shores

Drones above hardly take notice

Hey! Was it their noise, another sottise! 

Good swimmers, beavers learn to steer and navigate with their tail

And on land, they "tail up" to gain a few inches to gnaw down a tree

Or just gnaw to gnaw

When in Ancient Egypt beaver damns flooded the 

Bathroom of Queen Cleopatra

And plumbers didn't know how to deal with the

Glug, glug, glug.

It was said weeks were needed 

To debug her drain that was full of slugs

Today our Beaver  paddles through oily  waters 

In a military zone where

Hydrocarbons seep into its thick fur.

At night this industrious Egyptian mammal 

Dreams 

Not of green forests nor polka dot mushrooms, 

Rather of large pipes seeping black oil on the sand that reflect a dark sky 

Dreams of oil tankers without

Transponders going Ping! Ping! Ping!

The beaver hears a splash and  squints its eyes 

It sees an upside down black duck

Dunking its orange beak into the murky waters

The usual

Then it edges towards a metal door emitting a low sounding buzz 

It's an uranium cache, 

a good place to spend the night

And snuggle against the desert's cold

Yet weeks later the beaver's tail glows in the darkness

Even the silent hippos take notice of the freaky scenario

The hard working  beaver knows there is a price to pay 

Hormuz, a household name, is a nightmare

The furry vessel knows it is traversing a critical line 

Eat, eat, its Mum would say

Some crispy scarabs and chewy worms will do

Kismet has it that this mighty animal is always 

Humble of its achievements.

Just examine its teeth shining from having chewed through a recent pipeline.