Volume 21 (Roam)

Hitching across a dusty plain one June,
down one of those dead-straight platteland roads,
I met a man with rolled-up khaki sleeves
who told me his faults and then his beliefs.
It’s amazing, some people discuss more
with hitch-hikers than even their friends.

His bakkie rattled a lot on the ruts
so I’m not exactly sure what he said.
Anyway, when he’d talked about his church
and when the world had changed from mealie-stalks
to sunflowers, which still looked green and firm,
he lowered his voice, and spoke about his shades.

He seemed to me a gentle, balanced man,
and I was sorry to stick my kit-bag
onto the road again and say goodbye.

When all I seem to hear about these days
is violence, injustice and despair,
or humourless theories, from cynical hearts,
Those moments in a bakkie on a plain
make sunflowers from a waterless world.

– Extract from ‘In praise of the shades’ by Christopher Michael Zithulele Mann