Arson 31-3-2017

The Waters of the Snakes

It is a sacred place like the beginning of a journey – a place to dream and pray.
You hear the sound of water,
do not quite see the waterfalls
it stirs your urge to explore.

I spent time there in silence.
After much soul searching
driven by inspiration
Like a pilgrimage
Humble respectful focused
caring for the smallest detail-
I built a place.
I called it The Mukutan Retreat.

They burnt it down to ashes.

I shall go to see what’s left
of The Retreat sometimes later -may be-
and with a bleeding heart:
I am trying to gather the strength for this.
A few know what it meant for me
The monument of my love and loss and longing.
I simply put all myself into that creation
I had chosen every stone – every piece of timber –
and stood together with my team of Fundi
when they set it for ever into buildings.

It honoured Emanuele Love of snakes in the place he cherished most.
They called it Maji ya Nyoka:
“The Water of the Snakes”
The pythons loved it there,
the hot springs water.

I moved there in a tent for a month
before deciding the right place where to set the first pole-
without intruding in the valley’s mystery.

Every object was hand picked from places around the world
– from the antique snakes sculptures adorning every room,
to the hand – made basins and artist decorated plates.
Nothing in it was ordinary.
It was unique and irreplaceable.

They burnt a bit of my soul
they knew how it would hurt.

So I shall sit on a rock I know
Look at the Mukutan
And think.
The springs are as old as the Earth
they are still there
and will survive all this.

Kuki

In Ol Ari Nyiro
The Place of Springs

On 31 March 2017

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