MZEE. UNTIL FINALLY .......... UNTIL LATER!
for Mzee Godwin Kaduma [1938 - 2007]
for Mzee Godwin Kaduma [1938 - 2007]
By Imruh Bakari
There is luggage
to be collected
with well shaped
words and dancing
choruses that bring light.
There is luggage
to be collected
everywhere the fragments
in between the ruins
and the rain
and the rain
And so the story is told
unfolding like a flower
Mzee, the way you
moved each stone
solidly into place
taking the time to build
taking the time to build
where crumbling
will not visit.
will not visit.
And so the story is told
laced with moonlight
and other mysteries
woven solid
against the changing
winds and the carelessness
against the changing
winds and the carelessness
that comes
with a hangover.
with a hangover.
And so the story is told
there are new emergencies
in voices persistent
as Bagamoyo's dirt roads
as Bagamoyo's dirt roads
there are new summonses
worn calmly around shoulders
stern as the Iringa hill
..... a refuge ..... a memory
..... a refuge ..... a memory
Now we must sigh
as the bell sings
a slow march.
a slow march.
Now we must sigh
as the stoic smile
offers gifts of fire.
There is luggage
to be collected
with discerning touch
with discerning touch
no flags or fickle
monuments of vanity.
There is luggage to be collected
for the worker bees
a job of sweet
vocation calls
enduring until.. .... finally
enduring until.. .... finally
......... until later
Imruh BAKARI
30 September 2007
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