Poem
Vonani Bila
Dig
Dig
Dig
Do not dig your own grave,The dark clouds shall soon clear.
A man never sleeps
Where he shits.
Grab this fragile heart,
Wrap it in a fresh-pack.
Squeeze love’s sweetest juice
In silence.
Dig harder & deeper
For you refuse to dream higher & louder.
The halitosis hits you in the nose
And you stand on the cusp of a cataclysm.
Please do not dig too deep, Chongo,
Do not even use sharp hoes & picks.
Just dig deep enough
To cover your feet.
Dig, but love is a deep hole
Hiding termites and reptiles.
Surely you need not know
How many pregnancies she terminated
That she flies over the roof at night . . .
Listen to Bila,
Griot from the land of the drum,
Of the resounding throbbing drum –
With words brighter than the stars,
The living are no angels.
© 2004, Vonani Bila
From: In the Name of Amandla
Publisher: Timbila Poetry Project, Elim
From: In the Name of Amandla
Publisher: Timbila Poetry Project, Elim
Poems
Poems of Vonani Bila
Close
Dig
Do not dig your own grave,The dark clouds shall soon clear.
A man never sleeps
Where he shits.
Grab this fragile heart,
Wrap it in a fresh-pack.
Squeeze love’s sweetest juice
In silence.
Dig harder & deeper
For you refuse to dream higher & louder.
The halitosis hits you in the nose
And you stand on the cusp of a cataclysm.
Please do not dig too deep, Chongo,
Do not even use sharp hoes & picks.
Just dig deep enough
To cover your feet.
Dig, but love is a deep hole
Hiding termites and reptiles.
Surely you need not know
How many pregnancies she terminated
That she flies over the roof at night . . .
Listen to Bila,
Griot from the land of the drum,
Of the resounding throbbing drum –
With words brighter than the stars,
The living are no angels.
From: In the Name of Amandla
Dig
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