Land Of The Giants

Wide open electric sky and warm sultry breeze

Drowsy afternoon shadows crawling deep among the trees

Buffaloes, large and powerful… arrogant in their strides

Jostling mass of elephants… creamy tusks their pride

Tawny maned lions… muscled, shiny and lean

Cackle of hyenas… ferocious and mean

Water buck and impala: dark eyes watchful and wary

The mournful ballad of the fish eagle…hauntingly eerie

The African bush dressed in russet clothes

A sun kissed pulse throbs beneath their toes

These iconic giants, the essence of this sun scorched land

Moving silently like dancers… majestic and grand

Evening horizon stitched with a golden thread

A horn cursed rhino..wary in his tread

Smoke from a Mopani fire: breathless in the twilight

Elephants ghosting in the darkness…their tusks the cause of their plight

Africa’s half moon lies idle and serene

A sprinkling of stars that twinkle and preen

Hoarse cough of a leopard: baboons clamber up high

Night jars flirt: romancing the dark sky

Rich steamy scents cling to the trees

A symphony of nightlife… tantalise and tease

Shadows drift and darkness fades

An explosion of dawn… veined in gold braid

Fingers of sunshine slip through the trees

Elephants amble into daylight rumbling with ease

Large rumps rolling from side to side

Looking to their Matriarch…their leader..their guide

A myriad of footprints marking the sand

On the untamed splendour of this timeless land

A large slice of my heart…I cannot trace

Left behind..buried deep in that magical place

I fight for our elephants… for their freedom to roam

On the sun burnt Continent that I call home