He leaves Inyanga grandeur

The trout leaping joylessly

In tumbling mountain streams

Passing fertile lands grabbed

By war vets polishing rifles

Ready for tomorrow's action

As a Samaritan travels east

On Jericho's pot-holed road.

   

    

     He leaves Matopo's donkeys

     Braying in national lament

     With disenchanted voters

     Ready to grab the whip

     For greedy money-changers

     With a wad of worthless dollars

     As a Jonah walks west

     To another Nineveh.

He leaves Zambezi's gorge

Bream pulverised in turbines

Generating power

That doesn't fill the grid

Leaving five thousand hungry

But singing praise of their hero

While disenchanted disciples

Move north to Galilee.

    

     

     He leaves Great Zimbabwe

     Its national bird vulturised

     By genocide's destruction

     While stones one upon another

     Cry out in the helplessness

     Of wanton exploitation

     And the newborn's parents escape

     Seeking refuge south in Egypt.

He mounts Harare's kopje [1] 

Tempted to return whence he came

Seeing spears and machetes raised

From the four points of the compass

Concentrating his mind

So he weeps, yet not for himself

Knowing the meaning of the hill

From which there was no return.