The Lonely Sentinel Poem by Daleen Enslinstrydom

Like a lonely sentinel
the windmill towers over the flat escarpment
of the northern Free State,
drawing water deep out of the earth
and here the kopje’s and the hillocks
rise out of the earth
as if from thin air

while thunder clouds gather
over the looming Muluti Mountains of Lesotho
and give a beautiful backdrop
to a herd of blesbok roaming across the savannah.

The rainbow causes oceans of colour
that fills the sky above the mountaintops
while water flows down into the streams
that fills the dams
and nourished by the rain
plants that have been dormant start to bloom.

This is a place where hope is young
and numbers of zebra’s, hartebeest
and springbuck graze on the grassland
while a flock of wild gees fly past
and there is something breathtaking
in this landscape
that seems to be arid and barren.

When the sun blazes down
the horizon shimmers in a haze
that is a theatrical display
in moods that reflect in time and space.

Clusters of clouds dance over the escarpment
and over the orange coloured hills and hillocks
and the wind blows softly
over the shrubs and grass
where flocks of sheep flourish
after the rain storms

and blue swallows are swept up in the wind
where they catch insects in their abundance
and it’s as if they are grateful
while the sentinel still is watching
over the plains of Africa
where the sun-ripened wheat fields
are waving in the wind
and sunflowers turn their heads to the sun.