That Mountain

A belt of blue cheese at the feet Makes the mountain beyond Bachuma gate Glow in that mysterious hues that all distant Mountains carry upon their crooked humps A wall behind which the Mombasa sun sheepishly hides Until the herders of the low lands suffocate it with dust From a thousand pairs of hooves, then it rises up the mountain That splits a people into two Counties, a farmer and a nomad The watchtower of our fore fathers Against animal and fellow man That mountain saved lives And became a shrine For the exaltation of HE who curved it From raw matter, embellished with caves That invites humanity from E and W to drop jaws A fair day will beckon from this mountain With orange smile of a sun eager to ascend into sky A dreary one will keep you waiting, encumbered By a shroud of fog, that smoky mesh that covered Burnt sacrifices in the golden days, yet a day Of profound beauty, as colourful as a people tending a field of crops Watered by the mountain spring, will emerge The mountain of peace, for the elders swear by it While mending feuds, Will remain forever Its work among the creatures of earth undone Interminable strife betw’n man and beast Getting louder by day in the corridors of Tsavo Park May the stony humps echo the survival anthem Before the giggle and belch of hyenas drown it Herders of low lands, for a century, scrutinize the mountain’s shadow To stay off hoof breaking haste driving their speckled animals to rest That mountain will be standing there tomorrow Waiting for the sun and rain It will hear man sobbing It will listen to birds singing The hyena will growl It will not hear