Revelations: Africa in Poetry

The story of my life

38 The story of my life I Morning comes Day goes Promising As it sinks down beyond the Siyawatonga mountains Next morning comes Round sun rises with inviting warmth All its dazzling beautiful colors shining All birds singing to welcome the new day At the heart of the day The mountains are neither taller nor shorter than their shadows Yet the sun burns pitifully Breeze blows with serenity Promising! At dusk the peaceful warmth, breeze and light Bring the night together on the western side of Siyawatonga mountains All combining to form a wonderful unforgettable evening Everything was well until that night, the black night That brought to its knees the economy of the land With effects that nobody ever liked The bourgeois, the workers and peasants alike All cried the same voice 39 For a monster, terrible had invaded their territory With promising desire to wreak havoc in the land Realizing the new comer, not so long after its landing I trembled in fear, that of the impending sufferings My head between thighs, aching My voice growling in consternation My stomach rambling in sounds of all kinds My blood boiling, circulating faster than hydroelectric motor I knew the real enemy had come An enemy that will spare no one Good or bad Rich or poor Knowledgeable or ignorant Wise or foolish An enemy that resembles death but itself not death An enemy that leaves no stone unturned In its presence I survived Into the fateful day II As the new day came Ill-prepared I was For the flamboyant and admirable life I desired Not by my design But by someone’s design 40 That I couldn’t prepare myself for a life A life carved by decade-long of suffering and perseverance A life carved by decade-long of mourning and sadness A life carved by decade-long of socio-economic tribulations A life carved by decade-long of political violence and merciless killings A life carved by decade-long of force that resisted the momentum of progress A life carved by decade-long of force that resisted the wishes and hopes of my ego A life carved by decade-long of forces quivering with ego of a snake The logic of oppositions, it resembled With darkness striving to overpower light With hatred striving to conquer love With pain working against joy With night refusing to give chance to day With failure working against success A totally new life with everything working against my will The footprints of suffering! Printed and scattered all over southern Africa and beyond The source of my life: Its form in Zimbabwe Its fighting in Mozambique Its zenith in South Africa Thirsting for success Good life! 41 Sinking in the deep valleys of imagination Wondering in the groves and mountains of Nemahacha Eating away the heart of my body As I sat besides the Indian ocean with time-cuffed mind Sometimes absorbed by the tidalectics and birds of the sea In Zimpeto! Seated in desperation Watching the sky tire the sun And the hands of the clock ticking like heart beat In the tiny curved hut of T3 My blood bubbling and boiling As I witnessed the merciless mosquitoes feasting on my sour blood In Matola, I languished in individual inferno Thinking as each day passes sinking into the night And giving me no hope In Xai-Xai, my heart! It gave a final push To break away the troubling of chains around Struggling for good life III The sun is rising again This time slowly 42 Its dazzling brilliance faint Looking eastwards! I can see the sun Like a flower bud of a wilting plant, frail Struggling to spread its tentacles to attract the bees and beetles of the forest Looking in the sky! Some rain clouds but not as black as the ‘real’ rain clouds Northwest! Violent wind, strong Could this be a sign for the rains to cool the dry land Or a sign of rebirth Or a sign to sweep away the struggles of yesterday? I can see all singing with joy Others ululating and whistling Looking aside! The sckeptics, the so-called big brains All reluctant to join in the celebration As for them nobody knows Could this be the real sun rising to shine Or sun of the clouds, appear to disappear again...