Kupanda Tena Juu

Chini kabisa hakuna la kufanya ila kugeuka na kupanda tena. Kupanda ni polepole sana kuliko kushuka, na ni kugumu kuliko alivyotarajia. Anasimama mara mbili njiani. Mara zote mbili anajifanya kwamba anasimama ili kutazama mandhari.

At the bottom there is nothing to do but turn around and climb back up. Going up is much slower than going down, and it is harder than she expected. She stops twice on the way. Both times she pretends that she is stopping to look at the view.

Kwenye mojawapo ya vidato vya chini vilivyolowa kuna konokono wa mwambani. Ameketi kwenye kibonyeo kidogo katika jiwe. Kibonyeo hicho kina umbo la gamba lake kabisa. Konokono huyu amekuwa akirudi mahali hapo hapo kwa miaka mingi, na polepole amejitengenezea kiti pale. Hutoka usiku kula. Kila asubuhi hupata njia ya kurudi nyumbani tena.

On one of the wet lower steps there is a limpet. It is sitting in a small dip in the stone. The dip has exactly the shape of its shell. The limpet has come back to that same place for years, and slowly made a seat there. It goes out at night to eat. Every morning it finds its way home again.

Kutoka juu anaona visiwa vilivyo majini. Ni tofauti kabisa. Genge hili ni chokaa hafifu iliyojaa matundu na mapango. Visiwa vile ni graniti ya rangi ya waridi, mawe makubwa laini ya mviringo yaliyorundikwa juu ya mengine.

From the top she can see the islands out in the water. They are completely different. This cliff is pale limestone, full of holes and caves. Those islands are pink granite, big smooth round rocks piled on top of each other.

Polly anaketi juu ya ukuta wa zamani na kutazama chini mchongo ule mwambani kwa mara ya mwisho. Karibu vidato mia mbili, vilivyotengenezwa kwa mkono, vikishuka genge hadi kikombe cha maji baridi. Kisha anaruka kuelekea kaskazini kando ya pwani.

Polly sits on the old wall and looks down the cut in the rock one last time. Almost two hundred steps, made by hand, going down a cliff to a cup of cold water. Then she flies north along the coast.