The mahogany relief, on the porch staircase leading to chapel of St Andrew’s College, Kabare, Kenya, carved by Benson Ndaka in 1991. Commissioned and photo: Graham Kings

To this mountain, Ngai drew his people,

    Kirinyaga, shining brightness,

    snow on the equator.

Embedded in the mountain,

    hidden for millennia,

    now revealed, unveiled,

    the cross of Christ.

Down the mountain,

    bubbling up from springs,

    streams of living water

    are gushing, flowing, hurtling.

Above the mountain,

    beside the peaks,

    apostles gather and teach,

    in riddle, proverb and story.

On the wall above,

    a circular window calls:

    transparent cross with

    quadrants of sun.

In the chapel, facing Mount Kenya,

    through the window, a priest

    celebrates Holy Communion:

    continuity of God, peoples’ union.

(c) Graham Kings

(In Kikuyu, Ngai is the name for God and Kirinyaga is the name of what is known as Mount Kenya)

3 Dec 2025, St Beuno’s Jesuit Centre, Wales

For the series of 7 Kabare carvings, by Benson Ndaka, and 7 poems, by Graham Kings, click here.