Where Once We Stood and Laughed

it stood here
near this Baobab tree
what yesterday was the Hut of the gods

on this ground we stand today
stood that to which you and I
side by side brought our offerings
shot our eyes to the Sun
and saw in our newborn faces
a shine the sun could not replace

it was here our tears that fell like rain
dried into hopes and dreams
it was here we learned to cherish
the Hut that fires heaven’s love on us

now
where once stood the Hut
are grey smokes of sadness
a spiral of ruins with piles of crushed bones
and where once was a Baobab
is a river of blood in a valley of wild winds of regret

why did we burn the Hut
sold our hopes flamed our homes
and melt our past in the stranger’s Wine
beyond rhythms of sorrow till we begged to surrender
and in our defeat he ravished us
writhed us and now we stroll
and lick spits between his toes
around the roundabout of doubts and insecurities
carving affections in unforgettable words

and now driven by hostile Winds
we have stopped at the Traffic Light
moaning beside the roaming stick of Time
at the Hut now we come like warbling robins
in yawns and stench with our ghosts in satin sheets
standing upon the ruins of our ravished selves
carrying a teary tale on our lips
beyond every human touch
of User-Gods that lost us in the quicksand
of hidden Laughters

in my silence
I sometimes wonder if
while tip-toeing in a fog of Distance Footprints
we have not lost the Voices of the gods
the humorous voices of the Ancestors
and dress ourselves in wrinkled skins
of the User-Gods
carrying writhing souls in our armpit
smiling heartily with the User-Gods

can we come away
from the fog of distance Footprints
can we stop to shift the blame on the mice
and crush our lips and spit the reek
remove the lid and sing a song different
because the world will never hear us sing
inside the coffin six feet under the ground
can we go to the colony
to the country club to the mental asylums
and there retrace our Steps
beyond the rhythms of Sorrow

by tomorrow away from Medusa’s Love songs
let us gather near the Baobab again
let us come to where once stood the Hut of the gods
carrying our dark tears in our palms
let us bring our faint half-beating hearts
to walk tall to wake the sleeping dead
let our quivering lips shout in their fading tunes
and roar into the lion’s ear
such spirit will bring heaven’s lantern
to shine again on the grain of life
left on the slopes of where once stood
the Hut of the gods