Page:A Treasury of South African Poetry.djvu/92

 IN A MAIZE FIELD. Kaffir woman, her babe bound to her back, sings as she hoes:— The sun's flail threshes the maize fields, The heat-chaff flickers and stings; Song-less and still in the branches The birds droop listless wings. The sun lashes the maize fields; O for a cooling breeze! The birds are still in the branches, The cattle are under the trees.

Up in the kraal on the hillside Thy father drowsily lies, Quaffing the honeyed qilika, Cursing the troublesome flies. Thy father sleeps, while thy mother, Beneath the sun's white blaze, Toils from day-dawn to darkness, Hoeing the shimmering maize.

Umfundisi tells us that somewhere There lies a region of Rest: Shall we go seek for it, Nyana, This country of the Blest?