Mdukatshani

Dust gilded on a bone-dry wind

Laughter lifted, echoing along the cliffs to collide with the call of a hammerkop

Flamadiddle of footsteps, bouncing off the blazing stone bed of the Tugela

Sun shimmering the darting shapes of children and dogs, scampering to a

White-glinting wink of water

Effortless energy of light, sound and dance

Face shadowed beneath a pail

Footfall silenced in the hungry soil, feeling a path between the red rocks to the grey bank

Figure poised, pausing, scanning the remains of the river, shrunk and sucked by drought and draught

Dipping, fills the bucket from the stream and, standing, turns

Away to trace the daily route

Wasting not a drop, a step, a glance