One of Africa's most highly acclaimed poets, whose garlands include the 1986 Commonwealth Poetry Prize and the 1991 Noma Award for Publishing in Africa, this volume of poetry is part declarative, part confessional, part reflective, predominantly visionary. The volume was written around the poet's fortieth birthday. It is a vibrant celebration of life, its lights and shadows, its mountains of pain, its valleys of pleasure; and a passionate engagement with Africa's problems and manifold possibilities. The style is varied, experimental, and lyrically evocative.