Breathing African Air

This is one of my poems about Africa. It is also the name of the poetry book I plan to publish.

Breathing African Air

Flightless dust bathes the air as the ostrich

dances on two-toed feet to Africa’s beat;

Musty air hangs humid and motionless

’til rain quenches the parched and red-hot heat –

This is Africa: the birthplace of man.

A rainbow stretches across basalt cliffs

and cascading falls; painted rock faces

imprint chronicles of man migrating

across desert, savannah, terraces –

This is Africa: the motion of man.

Small streams meander till rapids beat rock;

Turbulent whitewater erodes the way,

rumbling and tumbling to lose themselves in

cascading cataracts’ mist of spray –

This is Africa: unquenched quest of man.

On blue-green savannah in haze of heat

the springbok stands a statue and gazes;

Zebra camouflaged in shaded dry bush

flicks flies as robust buffalo grazes –

This is Africa: the treasure of man.

Marula mampoer makes monkey mellow;

While elephants forage fermented fruit,

even-toed giraffe spreads and almost splits,

an amazing feat for legs, to lap near coot –

This is Africa: for Safari man.

The albatross dynamically soars;

Nose tubed in anticipation it breathes

salt laden air, polluted like the depths,

where dolphin dances and dives, wrestles, wreathes –

This is Africa: the refuse for man.

Death in rotting carcasses call raptors

in their hordes, to scavenge the battlefields

where fear falls prey to foe; the hyena

eats as a volt of vultures pry for yields –

This is Africa, the wake waits for man.