Rain Dance (Poetry)

A slow chant rises,
colouring the sticky air
with dark brown voices,
and dust hovers,
floats in circles flicked from heels
as white sun blazes,
sightless, on bare rocks and earth
where small stones gathered,
pile in totem effigies
for rain dance rituals.

A hunting lizard
slides unseen past twigs that smoulder,
forked tongue tasting
shreds of smoke and stale sweat wafting
from paint-daubed bodies, glistening,
as midday shimmers
on crude, symbolic patterning
of melting figures.

Long into the afternoon
their chanting lingers...
from western hills a quiet wind
like new breath conjured
from a desiccated corpse
whose tree-nerves tremble,
obedient to ancient lore
as clouds assemble.