KIKUYU

Susan Smith Nash

 

 

Nothing fresher than the air that day –

Water skittering by on land too high for coffee,

too low for the tall trees and dense green I crave for sleep …

a condition like hippopotami submerging themselves;

thick, leathery anchors.

 

We immersed ourselves in the smell

of rain, fish, coffee brewing.  Somewhere far away

thunder set off on a long journey

Kikuyu mountains, the tribespeople

long ago pushed into settlements.

 

My face scorched pink

A day of looking into my soul’s mirror

 

My heart someplace else

In untrackable bush

 

The tour guide laughed when I spoke Kiswahili,

Proceded to teach me more words

 

Thunder and rain.

The hand I held a part of the whole unreality of it all,

Good guy, this bwana, I said.

They thought we were husband and wife. 

So that’s how I could tell it was a dream---

 

 

Susan Smith Nash