Ghaap
Sonnets from the Northern Cape
by Michael Cope
Poetry
Rain
GHAAP
Contents
Notes
Scenes & Visions
Some Examples of
Silence
for the time being
Crossing the Desert
back view
Other Poems
Song Lyrics
A Virtual Anthology
YouTube Poems
Cautionary Verses
@ Contact
© Copyright
They did not arrive (were always there.)
The place was good. The plants who knew the sun’s
long rule hoarded food for them and everywhere
the herds, the troops, the prides, the packs, the ones
who were the spirit of the place, the flame
that moved like moon and stars, went on hard hoof
or flew or crawled or snaked like streams, became
friend food foe word walls hearth bed roof.
The place was good, its waters rare and sweet,
its stones flaked edges sharp enough for reed
or scraping hide from beast, separating meat
from gristled bone. The cave was space and seed,
gave fire, gave birth, gave time, was room to sing
the long song, the hillside song, the echoing.
