Songs of Sorrow by Kofi Awoonor
Dzogbese
Lisa has treated me thus
It has
led me among the sharps of the forest
Returning
is not possible
And going
forward is a great difficulty
The
affairs of this world are like the chameleon faeces
Into
which I have stepped
When I
clean it cannot go.
I am on
the world’s extreme corner; I am not sitting in the row with the eminent.
But those
who are lucky
Sit in
the middle and forget
I am on
the world’s extreme corner I can only go beyond and forget.
My
people, I have been somewhere
If I turn
here, the rain beats me
If I turn
there the sun burns me
The
firewood of this world
Is for
only those who can take heart
That is
why not all can gather it.
The world
is not good for anybody
But you
are so happy with your fate;
Alas! the
travelers are back
All
covered with debt.
Something
has happened to me
The
things so great that I cannot weep;
I have no
sons to fire the gun when I die
And no
daughter to wail when I close my mouth
I have
wandered on the wilderness
The great
wilderness men call life
The rain has
beaten me,
And the
sharp stumps cut as keen as knives
I shall
go beyond and rest.
I have no
kin and no brother,
Death has
made war upon our house;
And
Kpeti’s great household is no more,
Only the
broken fence stands;
And those
who dared not look in his face
Have come
out as men.
How well
their pride is with them.
Let those
gone before take note
They have
treated their offspring badly.
What is the wailing for?
Somebody
is dead.
Agosu
himself Alas! a snake has bitten me
My right
arm is broken,
And the
tree on which I lean is fallen.
Agosi if
you go tell them,
Tell
Nyidevu, Kpeti, and Kove
That they
have done us evil;
Tell them
their house is falling
And the
trees in the fence
Have been
eaten by termites;
That the
martels curse them.
Ask them
why they idle there
While we
suffer, and eat sand.
And the
crow and the vulture
Hover
always above our broken fences
And
strangers walk over our portion.
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