I had seen the white bird before, but not this one.

It stood tall, glittering in the sun like a great white boat

as big, the size of a man; that I struggled to make out its stature

as it floated on a reed with a halo of dangling hair

Garlanded with shinny pearls, its stony countenance it held me in pitiful disdain

Like the Katikiro of the secrets of Inyanja, the pearl of life

The water god from here to everywhere, descended directly from heaven

The great egret unfurled its coiled neck

and stood taller than two men

It made a blood curdling cry

That formed the world at the dawn of time


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