A Glimpse Into its Vastness
Where does one begin?
Yes, across the Mediterranean and around
The Suez and over Somalia and Eritrea
Into Ethiopia and its Addis Ababa
Before onward to Kilimanjaro, Arusha
The centre of the Eastern African Union
Great connectivity and plans for decades
To resurrect and reown what had a new sense
Of ownership and possession by Tribes unnamed
Travelling by road from Arusha to Dodoma
First big journey after the short one to Moshi
On the way to the Mosamba and Kenyan borders, prior
With a sense of expansiveness dawning over
Proportions beginning to take on new perspectives
Flat lands are interspersed with hills unending
Mountainous terrain with matching valleys
Flat expanses and waterways undulating ever
This sense of it being vast and unending
Shrubs, trees, and undergrowth thick and thin
Cactus and spurges, Sicilian fruit trees of all hues
People seem crowded in cities, big and small
Villages seem all equitable at a distance
Mother and children, animals and boys
On the move from or to pastures
The road is comfortable for an occasional
Bump or reconstruction stretch
All roofs are shiny in colours of tin tints
This sense of being upbeat and hopeful
Of making it big and having had the wait
To stand up and take a fight
But in ways that are of a mixed broth
Just like the terrain and the people
Arusha and its Meru to Kilimanjaro
Dodoma and its capital status
Religious affiliations with churches
NGOs and Philanthropists on the move
Addressing issues of the community
Development with a local flavour
Offering a sensibility and amenity
Of international standards in aspiration
Roads are of international measurement
All lined and tarmac surfaces
Ample room for lanes on the highways
Policing for discipline and yet human
The wayside inns of market pasts
And modernising locales with home foods
The music in the bus reminded of Suva
The similarity goes deeper and more
Tanganika marrying Zanzibar on way
To becoming Tanzania having some
West Asian and South Indian flavours
Be it in Kasava or Chapatis or cereals
Ugali dominates as do the maize
In the fields
Dodoma 8 August 2025, with past pupils.