Companion of Life: Poems from Zimbabwe

So what exactly are you?

5 So what exactly are you? What exactly are you? An animal? A plant? A condition? So, what exactly are you? Like morning dew You evaporate in the sunrise Like a chameleon You transform your camouflage Like seasons you change But faster than lightning Or even the rocket Like a demon You seize nations Only to leave them ailing and crippled Like bonfire smoke You wiggle to unimagined heights Where exactly to? Nobody knows So, shall we turn to n’angas Or to medical doctors To prophets Or to God Himself For interpretation Who doesn’t wobble where you set roots? Remember in Zimbabwe In the turn of the new millennium Politicians, academicians, all citizens alike 6 Cried the same voice Only because of you You are studied everywhere But it seems No one fully comprehends you Even Professors And the most rationals of this land Have failed you So, What exactly are you? Cry no more Pure your tears! Gradual cascades of twilight, Tears tender like dew drops At the break of dawn Gently, Tears descend To the cup of your dimples Part the breeze’s fur The sun will surely rise! And, new hope sprout! Like fig tree shoots In the season of spring Cry not Therefore, Cry no more! ...