'Shiny' - GHAAP: Sonnets from the Northern Cape

Ghaap
Sonnets from the Northern Cape
by Michael Cope

2 When They Arrived

When they arrived, they had come to the place

they sought. They did not seek the place, they sought

the stones, which were the prize. It was a race –

they set to right away with picks they’d brought.

The place was empty, void of anything,

a barren wilderness of thorn and thirst,

of night frost and armoured sun spearing

hard rays all day; the diamonds in the worst

terrain they could imagine, but their call

undeniable. No sustenance

but for the game, until they’d shot it all.

Ox and horse brought food and elegance,

machinery and cables, makeshift sheds,
Rhodes, apartheid, ‘flu and iron beds.