Endless Plains (Masai Creation Myth)

[grant hayes]

Ouch! Eesh!

[pipersfancy]

pffft! You're right! I'd completely forgotten! My silly boy is nearly 17... still, needs mom when something goes wrong (especially when pain is involved... and a drive to the emergency... sigh)

[RhymeLovingWriter]

Haha - and 'mother' lived yet another special day doing what moms do best! Hope he will mend quickly!

[pipersfancy]

RLW, John, Grant, Graydon, MHenry, and Odonko-ba—thank you all my poet friends for your kind words! I have a love of folk tales, cultural myths, spiritual beliefs etc... our world is a fascinating mix of stories that, together, tell our Human Story... I like to think my retelling of stories I have found fascinating sparks a bit of interest in others to look more deeply into the original sources of the material.

Sorry for the delay in responding... I'm usually a little quicker! My son impaled his foot on a broken plastic tub (don't even ask what he was doing) so the second half of my day ended up going in a rather different direction than the leisurely Sunday afternoon I was counting on...
pf

[Odonko-ba]

Bethralling! As if I was watching a documentary. I love your writing.

[MHenry]

pipersfancy, you are a weaver of fantastic and beautiful tales in every poetic form, spellbinding and mesmerizing your audience without aid of darkness, fire, or circle! Delicious!

[graydon archer]

In concurrence with grant, outstanding! I can almost hear the crackling of the night's fire as the storyteller spins his yarn....

[grant hayes]

Not enough Likes! You've got the 'voice' and pace and tone perfectly, pf. Loved every word and line. OutSTANDING! More of these, please.

[John Wertz]

Wonderful, Piper! The Serengeti comes alive. A terrific setting of the Olapa, Enkai story, (which I had to look up and found charming not to mention cautionary)

[pipersfancy]

I wanted to create the sense of listening to a Masai storyteller relate this myth— I imagined what it might sound like, heard 'round a night fire, children listening, wide-eyed... and that's where the cadence came from. I just tried to capture the storyteller in my head! Thanks for the lovely comment, RLW!

[RhymeLovingWriter]

I love how you've written this Pf! I'm only familiar with a few creation myths - and this was not one I'd heard - so I appreciate you adding to my knowledge of how the world believes! You are a master at spacing - sensing when and where to add or break a line. I'll be studying this again to try to glean some of that experience! Thank you!

[pipersfancy]

I’d fly
across a Serengeti sky
spread golden honeyed
with your heat

to meet with distant horizon

if I had but wings
to soar

the Masai below the sky
knew the story

knew how endless plains
became endless

became filled

with every creature
to creep and crawl

and move

became migration of millions
became dance of gazelle

but

only blue gnu were sacred

only gnu

shared their blood
shared their bloodline

with the Masai

when Enkai brought his cows
down from the sky

every gnu came down from his herd

left his herd
for famished lands below

but Olapa was a jealous one

she sang “Kiti! Kiti!” to mock him
before she struck him

Enkai
wounded
disfigured

took his own magic
round himself as a cloak

and shone bright

so bright
that none could look at him

but
Olapa

curiosity overtook treachery

she looked at his brightness
she lost her eye

you can see it
hung high above the plains

watching

through night sky

unblinking

that which began the earth