A Very English Odyssey

In fevered dreams I sought a guide: a sturdy sergeant at my
side,
To nurse me through the long night's chill. No common teacher could
fulfil
This martial task, to shepherd me through the awesome night-time
gallery.
Constable's landscapes, foam-flecked sea, trooped past in jumbled
majesty.

Regardless stood we on the strand, felt cruising dolphins nudge our
hand,
Our spectral cabby turned to mist: then suddenly, the clouds we
kissed.
And as the tableux - purple, blue; each colour of unearthly hue,
Passed by in ghostly cavalcade, we wondered at each eerie shade.

Jack at his masthead, boldly spying - on Cleo, in her cushions
lying,
A cowboy screaming "Don't lose your head! Follow that camel, sir,
instead!"
Without the aid of doctor's potion; up the Khyber, across the
ocean
We soared, in utter silence flew. Again, doctor! Try some stronger
brew!

The vision changes 'neath our feet, from mountain peak to city
street.
Figures waving, toiling, camping, up the jungle sternly tramping,
Then loving couples in the park, discussing things best left till
dark,
Though Henry, my companion, encouraged me to fly straight on.

At your convenience, he said, and touched the cap upon his head
In mock salute. Then, flying free, explained his own philosophy.
No English matron, fat and fair, could ever, in his view, compare
With maidens from the warmer climes. (He'd served abroad in distant
times.)

Those girls! With Dick, his friend, in tow, behind the barracks square
he'd go.
If friends in England only knew! And that's, of course, a chosen
few:
Sweet Annie, she of generous size, and Lucy with the laughing
eyes,
Emmanuelle, in velvet bound, from shores Columbus never found.

Too soon we're home and floating down in silence, to familiar
ground.
My boastful sergeant doffs his hat, then emulates the Cheshire
Cat.
And I, with barely muffled scream, wake from my convoluted dream.
So, given this to think upon, just sit you down - and Carry On!