Poetry Magazines - The best collection of poetry magazines online - Simon Armitage

We do not want to hurt
God or disappoint Him.
We do not want to be lone-
ly for His sake or to
suffer, either. We gather
with others in the sac-
red place ready to skirt
the hole in the ground, avert

evil, as we divide
in the dance and become
trembling bodies of prayer
in the sacred space, whose walls
echo to vocal cha-
risma and swell with the saints’
tonguing that fills us and all
creation groaning outside.

Under the indaba
tree sit down with the Good
Spirit, put the evil
thought down like a spear.
‘Come now, let us reason
together,’ says uNku-
lunkulu, he who is
the Spirit some call Abba.

‘Though your sins be red as
flamboyants in full blush
your soul shall be as white
as cloud-snow shining be-
neath the Boeing’s wings as
it nears Harare.
Sit down and break this break-
fast bread and eat sadza as

one of us,’ says the High
Chief of Heaven. ‘Imbibe
freely to the glory of
Zion’s and all tribes’ Son
as it was in Eden,
and will be, if only,
between breakfast and supper,
together we can try,

you and I.’ So through the long
dance-chant that goes on and
on, the swaying and sing-
ing that never stops
from generation to
generation, we pass
on the hope, trust, love,
help the promise grow strong

and tall like the increase
of a child as the years pass
and we live our lives in love
and thanks to God. Plant the palm
of your hand in the grained
side of the indaba
tree so that its sap be-
comes your life. Keep a piece

of this bayete wood by
you even if dead. It speaks
of what is sacred; won’t
let you disappoint God,
hurt him or let him down
in the tussle and heat-
stress of noon when limbs get
cramps, minds crack till they cry.

Only when we gain the
kraal of the king and kneel
with the goats to discover
that he is alive a-
bove and beside us, not
bones in the hills, as we
had cause to fear, can his
and our spirits run free.