Odyssey From Africa 1b 2
But the mood of celebration
Lasted only for a short time
Very few returned to thank them
Han and Matto found this puzzling
Chapter 2 BLOOD MOON
Through the days and nights that followed
Spread a mood of dark suspicion
Talk was heard of secret magic
Knowledge gained from evil spirits
Kwona first discerned the danger
Friends and neighbors acting coldly
Quick she organised the family
Gathered items for a journey
Scarcely had they left their homestead
In the shadows of the sunset
When they heard the angry shouting
Of the mob which joined against them
Sad at heart they fled the village
Leaving house and boat behind them
Ran for safety through the darkness
Into the surrounding scrubland
Han expected that a full moon
Would illuminate their footsteps
But although the sky was cloudless
The bright moon was strangely absent
Then they saw the red penumbra
Round a moon that was occulted;
Slowly the eclipse receded
To reveal a shining crescent
Growing wider and in brightness
Filling back its full bright circle
But this baleful apparition
Lent an air of eerie strangeness
To the roaring of their senses
As they fled for mere survival
Passed through land which, though familiar
Harboured menace in the darkness
After several hours of running
When the night was at its deepest
Coming to a leafy hollow
Han raised up his hand to stop them
And they rested there together
Lisa, Matto slept exhausted
Han and Kwona taking turns to
Stay awake alert for danger
When the rising sun awoke them
Cold reminder of their exile
Kwona and her daughter Lisa
Hurriedly prepared a breakfast
In the haste of their departure
They had gathered mere essentials
Han had his stone-bladed hatchet
Kwona took some food and clothing
After eating roots and berries
With some dried and salted fishes
They continued on their journey
Following the coastline northwards
"Are we far enough away now?"
Asked the children of their parents
"No", they answered, "we must travel
Far to find a land of safety"
Leaving bush and trees behind them
On they travelled over grassland
Vast and flat in all directions
With the ocean to their right hand
As they crossed the miles together
All around the same horizon
Han and Kwona, without speaking,
Glanced from time to time behind them
Resting night-time on the grassland,
With the dawn they journeyed onwards;
As the sun descended westward
They perceived ahead a river
Copyright © Phil Salmon | Year Posted 2017
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