Sesriem Poem by Yasmin Bee

A barren orange landscape
Life waiting for just a little rain
Everlong
Buried in the sands of time
Under the iron and silica
Amid the silence and open heat

Must it rain some time
Will it be before I'm dead?
Yet under all this sand, the river drains into the sea

I would like to die here in this arid land
Where there is nothing but stark color
Sky blue burning
Sands aflame
Clay brilliant white
This quiet beauty of light soaked ground

So I steal from this land, from time
Handfuls of fissured clay
Whatever chunks I could take
Of this riverend

I go home, put the clay to work
Ochre with water then rust with fire
I take with me the millions of years
Naukluft to Tsauchab
Stopping short of the ocean into deadvlei
Into my hands,
My pockets
Into my thieving heart