ROBBEN ISLAND

His cell, of course; breaking stones in the yard;

his endurance; his spirit; and his comrades’;

some warders and prisoners living there still,

in harmony, in freedom…

and these images:

the birds, teeming – African Penguins,

Crowned Cormorants, Cattle Egrets, Sacred Ibis;

part of the concrete wall of a cell block

made into a door on rails – ingenious, pointless;

Cape Town and Table Mountain gilded in the soft,

southern sun – a mere seven miles away…

Note: ‘Robben Island’ will be one of the next two stories to be posted in early January on: