The Rains
The rains have come to Africa; and the broken banks of the Ruya lay low in the valley, stretching through Chessa towards Pulpit Rock. The crocodiles that spend the dry season on the sand are gone, and flashes of lightening break the cloud darkened horizon where once hung smoke from distant brush fires.
With the first drops, dust settles into dark spots; rivulets form in the cracks of the dry earth and gather into streams down through the hills. In the valley, the streams form small tributaries of red mud, eventually joining with the river. It is the blood of Africa. Poured out for a new life. Free from a season so recently dry, hot and white.
The rains have come to Africa, and there will be a flood in the valley.
Dean A. Christiansen
On the end of minority rule in
Rhodesia, Africa, 3 March 1978.
The rains have come to Africa; and the broken banks of the Ruya lay low in the valley, stretching through Chessa towards Pulpit Rock. The crocodiles that spend the dry season on the sand are gone, and flashes of lightening break the cloud darkened horizon where once hung smoke from distant brush fires.
With the first drops, dust settles into dark spots; rivulets form in the cracks of the dry earth and gather into streams down through the hills. In the valley, the streams form small tributaries of red mud, eventually joining with the river. It is the blood of Africa. Poured out for a new life. Free from a season so recently dry, hot and white.
The rains have come to Africa, and there will be a flood in the valley.
Dean A. Christiansen
On the end of minority rule in
Rhodesia, Africa, 3 March 1978.