Lexicon of Beasts

@skyloverpoetry

Let me tell you the names of Nguni cattle
in your own language that you may learn
the love of Africans for their beasts of home lands
here is the cow, white bird that does not rest
here is the bull, Mfezi, mark of the spitting cobra
here is the calf, caterpillar of the Marula tree
speckled black and the beast which is like clouds
bringing rain grazing in the veld beside
the old ox who is stones and sky
In Africa cattle know the man’s whistle
know to follow with the patient stride
of one who cuts right through the herd
of one who is like a small boy playing in mud
In Africa cattle carry the sun across the sky
on their sweeping horns that stab the storm


This is my take on Kim's Weekend Challenge: Nomenclature
and after reading W.S. Merwin's poem, After the Alphabets.

The indigenous Nguni cattle of Southern Africa all have distinctive, symmetrical markings on their hide which are given poetic names by the people: The metaphorical interaction between the tribe’s natural surroundings and the beauty of Nguni hides led to the formation of over 300 illustrative words. Names are associated with animals, birds, plants and other natural wonders. 
Read more HERE

Nguni Cattle
Stock photo (Royalty Free)

Here follows a list of the traditional isiZulu names of those I have included in this poem:

Matshezulu
Meaning: “stones and sky”

Umlindankomo
Meaning :  “the bird that does not rest”

Dabulumhlambi
Meaning: “what cuts right through the herd ”

Madixadixa
Meaning : “small boy playing in mud “

Inkomo engamafu
Meaning : “beast which is like clouds"

Macimbomganu
Meaning : “the caterpillars of the Marula tree"

Mfezi
Meaning : “Spitting Cobra ”

Even the cattle’s horns are named – “what stabs the rain”

After the Moon

@skyloverpoetry
Kerry O'Connor

The moon is hunting tonight stalking
the dark culverts a white lion prowling
the margins of extinction knows well
the barren  pathways of its narrowing orbit
despite a billion stars now born upon the hour
what is one less rock polished by its lone
rotation around a planet slowly sinking into
its own sea one less lion in a random universe
where life itself is a thing unregarded



This poem is a tribute to the life and work of W.S. Merwin, who passed away on March 15 2019.
I was inspired by the style of his poem After the Spring, and by Margaret's Artistic Interpretations Challenge on Real Toads.

As I began to write about this month's full moon, my youngest daughter sent me this photo of three white lions she photographed in the town of Reitz, on the road to Johannesburg. All these sources came together in the few lines of my poem.

White Lions
Reitz, South Africa