Poem: 'The Stories He Could Tell'

THE GIANT OF MAJETE: B29-- Picture courtesy of Majete Wildlife Reserve


Some 50 years ago or so
In a country ruled by the sun
A new sun with no rays but flames
There, in Malawi
-- land of the flames--
A tiny elephant grabbed the wings of life
And took to the skies-of-life

Some 50 years, or so, ago
A man known to neither you nor me
Poured on the elephant's back the green-paint-of-a-name
"B29", or something like that, he muttered
And the paint has, through the long ages, stuck to the elephant's 'hair'
There at Majete Wildlife Trust

Some 50 years, or so, down the long ages
B29 walks in the open
Where once a forest of tree-legs had been
B29 does not speak of the trees that have been felled
As he walks between trees long separated by the axe
B29 says nothing about his kins long slaughted for their tusks

Some 50 years, or so, under the tree-of-life
B29 is the mother-of-all-memories
Under the scorching flames of the Majete sun
And all Majete Wildlife Trust staff can say
--As the lonely figure of the once mighty B29 creates giant shadows round-about--
Is: "If in B29's 'mouth' lived a voice human
"Oh, the stories he could tell"!