Sunday 4 September 2011

We Will Become Men Tonight


At dusk
We walk in slow steps
From the square
To the sacred grove.
We walk in single file,
Our lips sealed with fronds.
We walk with our loins
Concealed in loincloths,
Our bodies painted white,
Our scalps hairless,
We will become men tonight.
The priest sits waiting,
Our fathers wait,
Ancestors await our arrival.
We walk
Into the embrace of the gods
And learn secrets of our land.
We become men
And dance to the beat
Of the sacred drum.
At dawn
We depart the sacred grove
And walk
Into the bosom of maidens,
Our betrothed.