O AFRICA

Egyptian geese

Chase my steps back

Onto black seaweed rock

Green sea moss spot

Layers and layers

Infinity stretches

Cold lappings

Swashings

Mashings

Where sea meets stone

Shells made to sand

Take my hand

Into your Cape’s belly

Feed shark bait

Back slap, up straight

Teeth tearing

Sweet innocent

Gentle lines on brown smiles

Lighting up dark eyes

Good morning

Good morning

Sunshine

The land where

Love and death

mate

Wow

Burning under the waves of 3rd beach

Fitting into small cracks of hot shade

Cape Flats, Cape Point

St James. . .

Tide pools . . . .

Feed me local on broken floors

Broken rooftops, broken doors

Homeless, hopeless

Poor and nameless

Left,

Leaning back . . . . disappearing

Fading,

Dying

Unnoticed

Into red rock, red dust

White bones drying . . .

Mingled In with the scent of honeysuckle,

Vygies, gooseberries, Rooibos and sour figs . . .

Tossed by a warm South Easter

Stripped naked, free spirits

Turned to dew on your mountains,

Pure water running streams

Flowing into your oceans

Down your drains . . . . .

Can I ever say goodbye?

Can I ever leave you?

When my blood and bones boiled up from your soil

My stories carried for generations

Vibrating harmonies, sounding in your wind

When my life patterns feel too stamped in

When I want to separate myself from within

All things ancient, born in

Return me to you

Coming home

Into the widest arms I have ever known

The softest breasts, sweetest breath

O Africa, you are the beginning and the end of the world.