Georgina Warrick

Model Homestead of the Bantu Tribe – Hastings Museum

 

Comprised of something resembling wicker

Long before electricity was a flicker

There stood the Bantu tribe

I really hope they were able to thrive

Even though each vegetable fibre was perfectly placed

I can’t help but wonder what issues they faced

One hut showing a shelter for cattle

But was keeping them fed and watered a battle?

Inside there these people had lives

Intricate tales of people trying their best to survive

I feel the conditions might have been harsh

Heat, droughts and the opposite conditions to a marsh

Fencing encircles the camp, was this to keep intruders out?

Having to walk miles to fetch water for the spout

I wonder if they had a particular favourite dance

And the tribe could lose itself in an ecstatic trance

Did you keep bees for honey?

Which were possibly traded instead of using money?

The truth is I have no idea what your lives were like

Try as much as I can to imagine with all my mite

I will never know the rich tapestry of your lives

Or understand the plight of your wives

I will be trapped in my imagination of who you were in my head

Wondering, were you happy? Were you fed?

But you have tales and a deep history which I will never be able to see

As looking through the glass cabinet the reflection I see is unfortunately, purely me

But I thank you for setting my imagination wild

And remembering to live life with the adventure and wonder like state of a child.