To Mollel, After Safari


The red vein road swirls down around the crater
we fly over
on our way east
to Zanzibar –
clouds cast shadows on the plains
familiar shapes
hippos and twigas

We are quiet because we know
in our veins we carry new blood 
this the throb and pulse of wild animals

Jillian, the dumas or baby tembos
Eddie, the heartbeasts and gazelles, Jean
the orphaned wildebeasts needing new mothers

Who travels with me? I wonder as we pass
Moslem women wrapped in vibrant colors
on busy market streets

the bush feels too far from me now
the Indian Ocean crashes
in view

But this I am sure
for many nights the leopard of the marsh
will walk the moon of Mollel's dreams