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
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