the kiepersols will see you now

This midweek visit to Cape Town's botanical gardens is more pedestrian, less grandiose than a pilgrimage. A spiritual obligation of sorts though, yes – almost akin to churchgoing or plunging into a tidal pool. I came to Kirstenbosch as a child, sucked on sherbet liquorice at the tearoom. I came here at 24, for the lunch where my mom would meet my ex-boyfriend properly for the first time (we weren't exes then; I had moved on from sherbet to shakshuka). I came here for sunset concerts, picnics, walks. And there is a brief (but I think rather wrenching?) scene in my novel, The President, set here. None of that was on my mind as we walked there this time – no memories scudding over, no fictional flashbacks. Just – mountain-cradled breathing room, a steadfast holding above the city. Colonel Bird's Bath. As a kid, I used to dream of swimming here. I haven't, but I did put it into my novel.In the centre, a fine cabbage tree (known in Afrikaans as a "kiepersol").