i hear africa
the hoopoe calls hoop-hoop
hoop-hoop-hoop on forest
tree trunk, where
high-pitched grey
hornbill ignores the kwe
of a grey go-away;
cicada swarms where sun
light warms and plays
tymbals;
zizzing a song, crickets
chirping cheerily all
summer long; the turtle
dove mourns the heat and
coos
its love song to the breeze;
green garden gnat and red
dotted ladybird, mute
marvels of the insect
world, wing their way from
tree
to tree; in dappled shade
of green and yellow grass
hides mounds of red ground
where
thousands of termites work;
the anteater’s long snout
goes about to forage
for the delicacy
of the veld; the whinny
and braying bark of a
zebra standing near, while
blue wildebeest ga-noo
in the arid karoo
and graze in the heat haze;
for days the lazy cat,
camouflaged, yawns and waits
for feline fury to
fetch the food and thunders
out a roar to warn the
cackling hyenas, and
hears their manic panic:
ooooh-whoop ooooh-whoop
ooooh-whoop,
waiting in pack nearby;
the sun soon sets in shades
on africa and an
elephant bull trumpets
his call to a herd who
hears the rumble and chirps
to the rhythm of the
beat; the hippo, submerged,
surfaces and grunts on
land to roam on sand where
a crocodile once tanned
in the sun; the flutter
of feathers dust the ground
and the owl’s hoo-hooopooo
breaks the silence of dark;
a distant lone jackal
howls to the moon, and my
africa says goodnight
