Soles hardened to leather,
Orange and gold sunset
Reflecting in my face
And my dreams.
I played around your streams
Avoiding the mosquitoes
And the bilharzia;
And climbed your trees
Where the boomslang hide
From the boisterous child.
In tall reeds,
Where cobras slid
To lay their eggs,
We entered our fantasy world
Of ghosts and fairies.
And I saw the worshippers
In their capes of blue
With a large white cross,
Sing and dance
Praises
To Heaven
And Ancestors
And Africa.
All of us swathed
In your sapphire sky.
That blue
We will forever seek
Wherever we may roam.
That blue
That forever says
It is only here
That is your home.
SEE MORE POEMS BY SHARON HEANEY STANSFIELD