Granite, chiselled to size by stone
Building blocks along conveyor belts
Of ebony arms – flag waving.

Complex on rocks is without mortar –
etched signature of the epoch maker.
Conical tower is a giant on placid stilts.

Totems are museum relics. Fish eagles
roost on flag poles – Shards of eggshells
strewn neath the muchechete tree, shine

on borrowed light then shrink to rubble
in light of day. Grit of the mbira from the valley –
rhythm inclining towards the foreigner’s ear.

This is epicentre of the chevron nation –
housed in stones and diamond.