The Great Moema

Three

The veld is thick with long grass, shrubs and thorny bushes. We create our own path through the wild plants to the great mountain, the ground is hot beneath my bare feet and insects scuttle around going about their daily business. We walk from sunrise until the sun is high in the sky before we reach the fresh water spring. Nestled between large rocks at the foot of the mountain, clear water gushes gently from a crevice between the rocks and flows back into the ground around them. Pula is the first to drink, pursing his lips together as if kissing the crystal-clear liquid.

"Come on, have a sip." He says after he's had his fill. Mimicking him, I take a long sip of the water, it's cold as winter, and sweet like nectar, without the taste of soil like the river water. I feel the cold water go down my throat, my chest, cooling my insides. Never have I tasted water so pure. I drink from the spring until my belly is full and make way for Leru. After we fill our water skins, Leru suggests a detour before going up the mountain.

"No, why?" Asks Pula 

"We might not see this place for a very long time brother," answers Leru "Let's just show him before we go up."

Pula agrees with his voice but shakes his head at the same time, which makes me curious to see this place they speak of.

"This way," says Leru walking around the stream to a row of big trees with white bark elegantly peeling off the trunks and high branches. I follow with Pula still shaking his head. The trees lead us to a larger section with more trees of the same kind wrapping around the foot of the mountain. Leru walks between two trees that have just enough space between them for a man to pass through. I follow him between the trees and find myself looking into a well-lit cave with a large field of grass, flowers in all the colors of the rainbow and plants that I've never seen before in or around the village. A big hole in the rock above lets the sun light in, currently directly above a portion with bright red flowers and a large Mango tree. A few bees and butterflies glide around landing on flowers every so often.

"Go on in brother," Pula pushes behind me. I've been standing between the trees, glued in place by the wonders before me. I carefully step into the cave, saying a prayer of thanks in my heart.

"Is this, like heaven?" I ask dumb struck.

"No brother," smiles Leru, "this is where God created man." He continues walking over to the big Mango tree. "This is where God spent his days and nights toiling over his perfect creation, this is where our people come from."

"Come brother, don't be afraid." Says Pula already ahead of me and standing beside his brother. My legs refuse to move, my heart fills with a deep joy and thoughts of my mother's smile flood my head. I feel a deep sense of love in my soul, somewhere deep, a feeling so intense I drop down on my knees and tears roll down my cheeks.

"Brother," starts Pula, I hear him as if he were far away.

"Let him be," replied Leru.

"I stay on my knees for some time letting this feeling inside me stir whatever needs stirring. The ground beneath me is green, I touch the grass and feel its gentle prick. Then suddenly the words come out of me as if from a different mind.

"I give thanks to the fathers of my fathers, and their fathers before them. I give thanks to the womb that birthed the mothers of my mothers, and the womb that kept me safe on my journey to this realm. I give thanks to the Lion within me and the Gazelle that keeps me strong. I give thanks to the air that I breathe, the water flowing through my veins. I give thanks to the smallest piece of existence because without the seed, there is no life." A lightness fills my body, I stand up and look at the brothers and thank them for bringing me to this place.