Awake

Silent smoke shivers over last night's fire, rooster coughs up dawn, chop hens, tap tap crack eggs.

Nostrils fill with morning mist, sticky with yesterday's sweat, cloaks of dew bead on silent faces, coating sleeping skin.
Each brown dot of sand, each rough trunk, tickles dry palms, scratches scarred fingerprints, grain trickles over wrinkled skin, parched fields beg for green.

Air, sky ground, all that sight surrounds, the whole Earth crackles to life, rubbing crust from its dark sockets, opening them to grey light.

Thunderous hooves shake the grass awake, all Africa rumbles underfoot, squawks overhead, heat, humans, beasts, trees, water, sand- the land churns.

As night turns away, and light becomes day, a continent rises, stands and stares at the Sun.

~ Miles Merrill