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Nighthawk · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 1:39 pm Post subject: 'I Will Not Let Thee Go!'

As I cheated with Pablo Neruda here's one of my own.

‘I Will Not Let Thee Go…’

The Savannah stretched out endlessly, the land all scorched and bare
He raised his hand to his brow, shielding his eyes from the sun’s hot glare
And gazed at the distant ‘Mountain of God’, Oldoinyo le Engai,
And the dark cloud that hung above it, a promise in the sky.

Stork-like he stood as his cattle lowed, hungry and forlorn
And as his children lay stricken, and the wives prepared to mourn
For children’s laughter and fat young calves, in a time too long ago
In a land where grass was green, now only dust will grow

‘I will not let thee go, unless thou bless me’, the herdsman vowed,
As he stood on that desiccated and dying land, to that distant cloud.
‘I will not let thee go for my need is greater than thine
And I will bind thee to me with a will much stronger than twine.’

For I am a son of Natero Kop, the third son of Engai,
And we are the protectors and keepers of cattle, known as the Maasai.
So he stood and he stayed in the sun and the blistering heat, allowing only time to pass
His eyes on the horizon, never leaving that distant mass.

For should he let it go, then all would turn to bones and dust and sand
His family, the cattle,– all would die, and nothing would live on the land.
He stayed as the sun turned red, and the air hung hot and dry
And as the sun sank low, into darker hues, like a wound across the sky.

But still the herdsman did not lose heart, as the cloud disappeared from sight
For such was the trust in his will, and the agony of his plight
That he would not turn or falter, but keep his resolute stand
Until the cloud would bless him, and his arid land.

At last the new dawn rose, to a sky that was heavy and grey
And the air was full of expectancy that nothing could delay
And in the shadow of Oldoinyo le Engai, the herdsman smiled, and sighed
With the gentle stirring of the breeze, as the Heaven’s opened and cried.

The herdsman stood and raised his head to the sky
Bathed in the blessing and the breath, of the clouds and Engai,
Then with a wave of farewell he turned, as he had vowed
And with a heart full of joy, said ‘Goodbye’ to the cloud.

Perhaps it was strength of will which stopped the cloud from rolling by.
Perhaps it was his faith in God – in Engai
Or maybe when there’s nowhere else to go, you reach for the sky
For when faced with the impossible, you still have to try.

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scruffy_danny · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 3:09 pm Post subject:

You wrote that yourself?? You are very talented. That flows very well! I love the ending too. Excellent!
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And I walked alone, And I did not mind...

Nighthawk · Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:13 pm Post subject:

Thank you danny, glad you liked it. The words/prayer, *I will not let thee go* lingered in my mind long after I finished reading the true story of Karen Dinesen Blixen in *Out of Africa*. So, although the poem was mine the original thought was not.

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