The Botswana Trek Poem by Janice M Pickett

The dust covers the road ahead
Spread by a passing vehicle
A bus overloaded with people
Bikes, luggage and
cages of chickens hissing
from the heat

As the dust settles and the vehicle
Putters further along the heat haze
and disappears
The surrounding view can be seen
through sweat stained eyes

A journey too long and too hot
Grass huts lining the hillside
Children playing
naked in a muddy waterhole
desperate for some relief from
the unrelenting sun

Fields of corn stand tall
longing for a breeze
to help them gently
sway as they grow

A village of circular grass huts
surrounded by a twig fence
mystically appears through
the rays of sun shining
against the windscreen of
the jeep

People barely dressed
run from the shade of a large
Jacaranda tree
They clap their hands and
call sakabona
a greeting for Hello

We wave back not wanting to stay too long
The day is slipping away and
Botswana awaits
Bulawayo is now far behind
As are the pool and the comfort
of home

Suddenly as if by a Miracle the sun slips
behind a rapidly developing cloud
Cumulus Nimbus fills the sky
growing darker by the minute

A sudden attack by thor rocks
our very being
the streak of lightening lights
as the thunder roars
and sends a frightened group of
people rushing for the safety
of their huts

Always daunting
always on the brink of danger
always so exciting
and always wild
Africa you are awesome
Africa you are Home