My son dances in the circle
of his own light:
See his feet blossom
as he dances to a distant song.

My son dances, steps over the sun:
He has caught the sun in his palm!
He rubs the sun with his fingers
His fingers bloom, his fingers are

 

The sun that he caught, are the flower
That he waves as he dances in the circle

 

Of his own light
Of his own sun.

 

Frank M. Chipasula

© by Frank M. Chipasula. The poem has been supplied by the poet.

 

Frank M. Chipasula grew up in a small fishing village on an island in Lake Malawi . He attended the University of Malawi , studying English literature. After having collected material during eleven years, he published an anthology of modern African poetry. He received his Ph.D. in English literature from Brown University . He writes both  novels and poetry, poems in the African traditions of song, ritual and dance. He compiled, together with his wife Stella, “The Heinemann Book of African Women’s Poetry”, 1995.