Gillie Harries
The NATO Phonetic Alphabet Tale
He was an Alpha male
Bravo said I
Charlie was his name
And we collided on the Delta,
Steamy nights, rum punch
An Echo of romance
Was wafting on the breeze.
We clichéd a Foxtrot.
Sometimes,
he played Golf by day
whilst I, languished in the 7 *
Hotel spa.
We flew to India
I Juliet
On our balcony of hibiscus.
He bought me a Kilo
Of diamonds, emeralds, rubies
Sapphires.
Jetting on to luxuriate
in Lima
our private pilot Mike
in full control.
It was November
Summer fiesta
With his brother Oscar,
And Papa, Mama
The whole shebang.
Finally we settled
In Belle Epoque Quebec,
He still my Romeo,
Though we Wintered
In the Sierra Nevada,
Had a ranch,
Learnt to Tango close.
When he put on his Generalissimo
Uniform
Well, I began to worry,
He was a Victor
In the Coup d’Etat
Drenched in wiles and Whiskey.
He had X-ray eyes for
Other women then.
I ditched him
For a Yankee doodle dandy
Then finally, finally,
A handsome man
From Kwa Zulu land.
Commentary
A rare humorous poem for me; sitting in the yawning tedium of a mobile phone shop, the said NATO Alphabet was on the wall beside my chair. I had the time to write the first draft in situ and left with the cheapest phone.
