Africa: Retelling the Story...

What if there was no love in me for you Africa...?

I shrug, I will not think of it...

I wonder which other songs are left for me to sing

I wonder what can give me much joy for a better future

And I thank God for this gift, for Africa, for the world

For the opportunity to tell how I feel about Gods perfect Nature

And what it means to me... my beautiful inspiration!

1.

Each time I wake from my slumber I see your beauty

I still see heart warming smiles and people around me

And the sweet torture of their warmth joyfully burns my heart

It feels so good to be part of it all, part of a blessed world

Imagine sleeping in the open air at the spying of the Wild dogs

Imagine running up the hills to fright the Lions with the Masai

Or to dance with the mischievous apes of the Savannah

And drink the sweet and fresh Mqobothi beer with the Zulu

2.

There is some warmth even in remembering you

In bearing your thoughts and dreams...

In my hopeful traveling of the lengths

And breadths of your landscape

Through ponds, forests, hills, vales, towns and hamlets

And my encounters with the good and the bad and the ugliest,

The wild, the tamed, the birds and the beasts...

The sweet romance of adventure itself

And my undying quest for knowledge...

3.

Sometimes I am like the Wild myself

And the Waterfalls and Ponds my fine siblings

What of the streams with reeds all over the surface

That conceals the dreaded Alligators in their element?

What of the python with her thousands of camouflage spots

Swimming in the deep rivers of the Niger and Orange?

What of the spotted Hyena with her ferocious eyes

And large head full of tattoos and curly hairs?

What of the songs from the thousands of forests dwellers

Who knew no other men, deity, world or hope?

What of many, many things I might not remember to remember

Just what of ...

And what of me with everything strange about me

Writing, musing away to the tunes Nature gave me?

Knowing so well I belonged to a community, entertaining ourselves

Living together for life is for the living...

I am sorely in love, with you Africa

Our Environment and Writing

Today I will talk briefly on a topic that is not common. Uncommon in a such sense that its significance might be under-estimated. As we all know, poems are written all over the world, in many languages and from different geographical locations. Many times, ones physical environment dictates the tone and mood one writes. For instance, writing from the cold Kilimanjaro range and from Niamey in the hot Sahara, the poet tends to be affected by his natural environment. He might probably write 'hastily and short' in an uncomfortable place and likely feel relaxed and wanting to make a 'unrushed' work in such places that are naturally welcoming and inspiring. Consider writing a poem in a close door room with little ventilation and some tables with cups and writing in an open air, with a table overlooking vast fields of Golden wheat and hawks hovering up a blue sky... Our environment plays a great role in our reasoning and feelings which in turn comes down to our writing(s). So being mindful of ones physical environment helps one in improving writing efficiency.