The Silk Road.

Numerous bolts of silk protected in rough hide

Sand storm protection on the dusty desert side

Rhythmic rocking, swaying on a humpy back

Spices, perfumes, incense in bulging hessian sacks.

The road is often narrow, single-file to trail along

Protracted mountainous regions often cold and long,

Foreign lands to travel acquiring different tongues

Resting time insufficient for conversation - just simple

words and sentences, enough to pass the time along.

Fruit of shaded oasis gardens flourishing in the heat

Kumquats: dates, lemons, oranges, dried-fruit treats

Unknown, ungrown in rocky regions, pleasurable to eat

Dark sugar sweetened sherbets, anecdote to desert heat.

People of myriad walks of life traded along the route

Slaves, bartered and sold  - inhumane. Shoeless feet

Like leather, persons perceived as lesser than less,

Nought remaining of hope or dignity, only feeble flesh.

Family: mother, wife, son, daughters bartered away

Sand-silk and woven carpets – cheap at price close of day

Furnishings to accessorise quarters of Sultan wives far away

In the cruel shifting sands of The Silk Road much is hidden,

Concealed beneath Marco Polo adventure and mindless glamour

Four thousand miles upgraded to Nine, says digital accounting

No compass or sextant to blame or for lack of milage missing.

The Silk Road, romantic, alluring, vast money in trade to make

Thousands of years since inception flourishing, touristy to this day.

Bio

Janet Stoyel is a Craftsperson, she received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II , is an RCA Master of Philosophy, holds a UCE Batchelor of Arts (Hons); is a Winston Churchill Fellow; a Queen Elizabeth Scholar, a Wingate Scholar and held Senior Research Fellow Tenure at as  University of West of England for 12 years - simultaneously operating a textile business: The Cloth Clinic. Janet now retired writes: Conference and Research Papers, Technical Documents and….  purely for pleasure ….. Janet writes Poetry!