Mikolongwe Hill

It wears not a big name

Nor the summit a high aim

It keeps not a forest for a hem

Still it beams without shame

Amidst ruin and neglect

Where life once bloomed

Among trees scattered and erect

Now gnarled and doomed

Alas at its base a story unfolds

Of a people who have lost a vision

Who see not what tomorrow holds

Failing to send for help by the pigeon

But it ignores the gloom below

Inviting you among many a boulder

Of different shapes and glow

Artfully hemmed away from the bother

[Written on 29 December 2002 in Blantyre after hiking Mikolongwe Hill located in Thyolo District, Malawi with a dear friend Mike Kadumbo]