Sonnets On African Myth

A sonnet on Anansi, the Akan spider-god who outwits the powerful to claim the world's stories.

A clever silk is spun across the leaves,

Where shadow dances with the golden light.

The tiny trickster sits and quietly weaves,

To catch the secrets of the deepest night.

He climbed the sky to reach the Sky-God’s throne,

With nothing but a boast and nimble thread.

To claim the tales that he would make his own,

And plant a seed of wit in every head.

The hornet’s sting and leopard’s heavy paw,

Are tangled in the patterns of his game.

He breaks the weight of every cruel law,

With nothing but a whisper of his name.

Though small of limb, he carries every lore,

A king of craft behind a kitchen door.

The Goddess of the River

A sonnet on Oshun, the Yoruba Orisha of fresh waters, love, and beauty.

Where river waters meet the river stone,

She mirrors back the amber of the sun.

With golden brass upon her emerald throne,

The healing of the world is now begun.

Her laughter is the ripple on the stream,

A cooling touch for every fevered soul.

The sweet fulfillment of a thirsty dream,

That makes the broken spirit bright and whole.

She carries honey in her gentle hand,

To soften hearts of iron and of clay.

The lifeblood flowing through the weary land,

To wash the bitterness of dust away.

But do not scorn the sweetness of her grace,

For storms are hidden in her lovely face.

The Shadow of the Sun

A sonnet on Apep (Apophis), the Egyptian serpent of chaos who battles Ra every night.

Beneath the barque where golden light is born,

The coils of darkness wait within the mud.

A jagged scale, a spirit held in scorn,

Who hungers for the taste of solar blood.

The sky turns red as day begins to fail,

And chaos rises from the hidden deep.

To wrap the world within a heavy veil,

Where ancient, toothless terrors start to creep.

The spear of light is thrust into the gloom,

To hold the hungry serpent at the bay.

A nightly war within a sandy tomb,

To win the promise of a second day.

Though fire wins before the morning bell,

The shadow waits within its desert cell.

African mythology is incredibly vast, ranging from the spirits of the Sahel to the legends of the Zambezi.