Last Night

Angifi Dladla LAST NIGHT Last night I wasted no time; I hovered over the mortals. One was soft snores, the other a Pharaoh in stiffness. For weeks I had been preparing for this up-flight! Up, up, through the ceiling I defied gravity. Somewhere in another realm, two creatures stood in my way – demons, unlike anything in our orbit. Each carried plate-like lips: huge round things stretched out, and stuck to each other. Cumbersome on those bodies, the size of Tasmanian devils. Like frilled lizards the creatures stormed at me. Lips burst open, displaying a furnace with flaming teeth. ‘Devils, devils!’ I charged, ‘All my life, alone, I have been venturing out …’ Off they backed like hyenas. I resumed my voyage. Screeches, menace: those creatures again. ‘I am a Udibi, the courier-poet of God!’ I shouted. Their tails melted away between the legs. Their lips, like hairs in the grave, lingered. Peacefully, I continued my voyage ...