Words are coming out with genuine surprise on their faces
They are just here, they say, they don’t know why
They are coming out in numbers, armed to the tooth
In the background an old war song is playing
On the ground battle-lines have been drawn
Words mount a massive road block as they crowd the street
Wondering why they are here, wondering even more
Where they were before they got to be here
Over the horizon a silhouette is sharpening its sword
Except for the motion no sound is coming out
Yet the metal is being sharpened against stone
The moon and the sun are approaching each other
The mystery disappears when the metaphor is explained
Words begin to group into comprehensive sentences
Forming straight lines and, with effort, even straight curves
Knowing there will be nothing left where they put everything
The registrar general orders extra death certificate forms
In anticipation grave diggers sharpen their mattocks
Ambulance drivers fill petrol to the brim, the keys are in ignition
Even factory workers hope the morrow will be declared a day of mourning
At the end of the day there will be nothing left but dust
Where they will have put in their all, their punches and kicks, their everything
The silhouette now approaches the other side of the battlefield
Not knowing that after all has been said and done there will still be more
That needs to be done
Also by this poet:
Pfumo was born Dunstan Pfumojena Chaitezvi in Harare [then Salisbury] in 1970. He enjoys mostly reading and once in a while, writing fiction i.e. poetry, prose, short stories and novels. Pfumo also writes music, advertisements and scripts for drama. Most of his life he has been an amateur writer living mainly on Architecture and Construction.
Pfumo’s writing career began at age 10 when he got his first novel; Gehena Harina Moto by Giles Kuimba. He went on to read hordes of other Shona novels enjoying both the storylines as well as getting an appreciation of the Shona culture.
After 4 years of intense Shona novel reading he moved on to read African writers including Western crime and detection novels.