I come from a place
where the sun sparkles
amongst heaven’s things
aloe buchu kwarrie
leaves branches a patterning
in mixed textures
raised foregrounds
hard against ashes of sky
like a cheetah spotting veld
like a predator surveying
I move with the /Xam
across plains
cutting boundaries
straddling rivers
I shade the day
silhouette the night
between boabab trees
that support the milky way
dissipate dawn
rain down in thunder
as lightning I flare
as breeze I touch
I shall remain in my place
running the horizon
naming the day
circling the sun
then I will sit like a bush
& be a man that pauses
in the running like a dassie
basking in africa’s sun
juli Jana