A CYBORG

. . . walk forty miles in a day,
barefoot to boot
on hot pitch
burning like a bitch,
to this you may say " NO WAY!"
But MAHAL
could easily cover the distance
from Port- of - Spain
to San Fernando
all the while
shifting gears in style
and wearing a big broad smile,
this distance by the way
on any given day
is sixty five miles
I dare say

In his khaki shorts
his calves rippling muscles of corded steel
MAHAL barefeet
and with no shirt to his name
would cover the island
touring in his invisible mobile
being careful to follow
all the laws relative
to the Highway Ordinances Act
he kept to the side
because his vehicle
was of the slower moving sort
but he always made sure
to make all of the required signals
with unmistakable style
breaking all the while

But when he pulled into
a town or city
panic would ensue
as all drivers there
were seized by the fear
that they might park their cars on the very spot
where MAHAL had left his
for in instances like this
impelled by a wrath that knew no bounds
violators of the sacred space
where he had left
the invisible mechanical side of his being
would be threatened with dismemberment
and scolded with lyrically precise
cadences of obscenities
that flowed like lithe litanies from his lips
for taking such liberties.