An Angel Between Trees Poem by Daleen Enslinstrydom

Baobab, you are an African icon
with your wide trunk and your branch-arms
that reaches high into the heavens,
as if you want to grasp onto Gods mercy.

Your skin is similar to the skin of a lizard,
your wrinkles is like crevices
on your old body
witnessing to the fact
that you have lived a long time.

Between thorn-tree’s you are comfortable
in the hillocks surrounded by aloes.
You stand as a reminder of the splendour of nature,
unshakable with roots anchored in deep soil,
drinking water from the earth’s belly,
to feed many others later on

and when the thunder and lightning
meet in the sky above you,
you stand like all of us in awe to God’s wonders
when the rain falls on the grateful earth.

While the antelope roam between the rocky cliffs
and the guinea-fowl finds shelter at your feet,
you stand highly exalted above the escarpment,
as if send by God as an angel to guard over His kingdom.