Madiba

The hills and the valleys of Muezo,
land where you walked as a boy,
have gathered you home, now, Madiba.
May your people follow your footsteps,
remembering your name.

Your people lay you to rest
after your long walk to freedom,
rest you deserve,
after the shining vision
that you made
of your time on this earth.
You took the dream in your heart,
nurtured for decades,
and achieved the reality
for your people.

Your dance of joy
danced in my heart,
the day that dream came true.

May the cry of the sacred ibis
and the respectful roar of the lion
sing you to sleep, now, Madiba.
May the voices of your people, singing,
all across the land,
thread through your dreams.

May you know,
at this completion of your journey,
that you did well.
May you hear, where now you have traveled,
"You are my beloved son, 
in whom  I am well pleased".

My friends, as I anticipated the death of Mandela, and always respond to loss with stoicism, at first, I have moved through the days since one of my heroes died, thinking I had absorbed the fact into my being. But hearing the notes of these singers, for the first time I realized that he is gone. And now the tears come, hot and fast, for my Madiba.

posted for Kerry's prompt at Real Toads, to write our thoughts about Mandela, whose loss is freshest for her and her compatriots in South Africa. He is a global hero, but he was a boy and then a man of the people of South Africa, first.

SONG OF THE EARTH

The Elaho

photo by Jon Merk

The earth sings in liquid notes:

roar of waterfall,

trickle of creek,

rush of river,

ebb and flow of the ocean tide.

Let it trickle through your fingers.

It is precious,

the basis of all life.

Thank the water.

Pray to the water.

It hears you.

The earth sings

in rushing wind,

in crackling fire,

in soft breezes,

in thunder, 

in crack of lightning.

Listen with your very being

to the message

coming to you

on the wind.

Listen for direction

in the way that

you must go.

The earth sings

through its creatures:

cry of eagle,

chirp of junco,

caw of raven,

howl of wolf

in the wintery midnight,

roar of lion

on the hot savannah,

snow leopard

on its icy slope.

Listen to their songs and cries.

They speak their own language,

but if we listen,

they can tell us much.

The earth sings

through the Two-Leggeds

who walk this land:

songs of joy and pain,

songs of hope and transformation,

songs of humanity

and transcendence.

When we open our hearts

to these songs,

the entire world

takes wing.

Madiba! 

Your song opened our hearts.

Your passing renews our commitment

to your dream.