AFRICA 1961

AFRICA IN 1961

I have seen the rocks hard

against the soft sky before

sudden night descended and

filled the dark hollows with

the sound of insect wings.

Acquiescent in the luminous air,

the rocks were waiting.

Hard as the rocks,

against my heart lay fear.

Copyright Ruth Hartley 1962

I wrote this after an evening walking among the granite kopjies on Scorror Estate in Wedza district. It was soon after Smith's illegal Declaration of Unilateral Independence and I was afraid of the conflict that I knew must follow.