Damon P Luke Sheen (Lucky) Red Ochre Skies of Kaokoland

Red dust sticks to bare feet
Dunes hum where the ancestors meet

Goatskin wraps around her hips at dawn
Copper glints where the belt is drawn
She walks where the Kunene bends slow
Following the herds where the wild grasses grow

Red ochre skies over Kaokoland
Bare skin kissed by the sun’s warm hand
No cloth to hide the land’s own mark
Her spirit’s stitched to the desert’s heart

She kneels to grind the ochre stone
Dust on her cheeks where the wind has blown
Leather and copper catch the light
Guiding her steps through the endless night

Red ochre skies over Kunene’s shore
Her skirt of goatskin, her only core
The desert’s breath in every sigh
She carries the old ways, held high

Nomad steps on ancient ground
Her story written where the dunes are bound
No thread but time to weave her song
Where the wild and the gentle belong

Red ochre skies over Kaokoland
Her bare skin bears the desert’s brand
Goatskin and copper, simple and true
Her soul’s as wide as the sky’s own blue

Red dust settles as the sun dips low
Her shadow stretches where the ancestors go