Amanda

Africa!! She is the most amazing and mysterious of any other. And the best part about Africa is the different cultures, and the diversity of wildlife. My all time favorite is the LION. Magestic, regal, feirce, yet so beautiful. I have been to Kenya and South Africa and plan to live there one day.This is a peom that gives you an idea of my passion for Africa and never wanted to leave:Why? Why stay, when all around crumbles As friends wave goodbye Why remain, despite the tugging fear Why hang on so fiercely ? Why ? I look out my window and my heart fills And my eyes fill, but no tears fall. Why ? Blue skies that stretch forever, Sometimes burning hot, searing With sunscreen and cokes and kids and braais Sadza and boerewors and beers and wine And talk and laughter.... Oliver Mtukudzi, or not. Driving to the far, or the lake, or the dam, Wherever Swirling dust on bush roads Msasas and mopanes and baobabs Kopjes tumbling over each other Friends I have known all my life. Bouganvilla, pointsettia, flamboyant and Jacaranda Lusty colours that are not ashamed Wide streets and mad drivers And red lights that mean go while you can And people who still help when you break down On the side of the road.... Sometimes a glorious sunny day, A caress after rainy introspective spells Or after cold winter days To revive the spirit. To sit outside and soak up To be joyous and thankful. Doves and go-away birds and even crows. Birds of every colour, flaunting. Whilst inside a friend, the childrens' Second mother makes tea and conversation. Steely and tumid, huge skies, Cracking apart with lightning Thunderclaps shaking the ground The smell of the first rains Soaking into the parched earth. And a power cut brings out lamps and candles. Sunset, when the blue canvas is painted In swirling glory And a hippo grunts its warning, A fish eagle gives her soul cry. That haunting pull. Gin and tonic or a beer, Hands dirty from putting worms on hook, The days catch in the net.... A game drive to see Gods gifts Elephant at play by the waters edge Shy buck and lowering buffalo Towering giraffe Bush pigs with tails in the air, babies scurrying after A hyena loping past The predators wake.... Then stars come - is there no end to Your glory ? And the night sounds And the edge that is Africa Hidden eyes shining.... Distant drums, Smoke African voices. Ah those African voices That whisper in the night Some that plot and scheme and hide their eyes So as not to see what is being destroyed Others that smile into your eyes and ask How you are today And take your childs hand And shake it solemnly And in that short gesture There is more in common More acknowledgement than You will get anywhere else No matter how efficient or prosperous Or safe. So I stay because I am an alien anywhere else And I don't know what to do anymore to Keep you safe Except not to desert you.