Mozambique

The mask and the dance are yours
And you belong to them.
This is Africa,
Where death is just a slowing
Of time.
Malaria trawls the blood,
Plotting a fever chart
Of deaths and resurrections.

Gold trader of words,
Smelt your life
In the sunrise;
The Indian Ocean
Commands you,
Calls you down.
Remember:
Nobody knows where the names come from.

The living are hopeful and the dead are very patient.
Placid as dugong grazing sea grass shallows,
I breathe water, earth’s memory,
Alchemist in a laboratory of dreams.

Barefoot up the mountain
To the humpback whale herds of clouds
Where forbears’ voices cascade,
Zambezi,
Limpopo.