-


I SHALL EULOGIZE MY DOG
He walked on the hot and bare sands with me every day of his life, with or without my consent. He followed me to the beach and followed me to the hills. He trailed me to the forest and made me chase him in the meadows. He was not just ‘a common dog’, he was my dog, my shadow. I prayed for him, to live forever and always stay around but then, we don’t always get what we wish for, do we? He was a good and loyal partner, more loyal than most men I knew. He never held anything against me even when I whooped him for chasing after the hens, or struck him for licking the cooking pots. He was not a pedigree dog but to me, he was all I ever needed. His grace, his wit and playfulness...I shall eulogize my dog. I shall eulogize that animal that peed on all corners of the compound and upset the cooking pans late in the night, that animal that chased the weaver birds out of the wheat plantations, that nipped at the little children’s heels when he found them fighting on the dusty paths. I see him every night as he trots over the hills and into a cloud of dust and then I can’t see him again. I see him jumping into the pool and sinking into the dark, yawning world of stone and mould. He visits my dreams and nightmares, can hear him bark me awake but then I wake to find everything silent as death. I shall eulogize that animal, for I never really lost a dog, I lost a partner, I lost family.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
If we must die If we must die, let it not be like cows in the slaughter, walking willingly into the bloodbaths, too meek to resist and too trusting to argue. Let us die like buffaloes in a lion chase or ants in a midday march. Let us die like termites in search of freedom in a hostile world. If we must die, let it not be like birds caught in storm or a deer by a hunter’s spear. Let it not be like foxes caught in traps or flies landing on fire. If we must die, let our death not be told to those with faint hearts and loud wails. Let it not be known by those women who know not to keep their mouth shut. Let it not be told to those frail and on the brink lest they tilt over. If we must die, let the news be hushed and kept silent. Let everyone be told that we refused to be vanquished, that the flame refused to be extinguished. Let them be told that it is not graves but a mound full of seeds and flowers. Lord, if we must die, let us waft out into your presence like sacred incense. Send a ch...
Read more
-
Where did you go? I am a walking carcass hoping for a wind strong enough to carry me away, a rain harsh enough to dissolve me into a lump of soil. If I could erase all these memories and go back to the days before I met you, I would. But how sad that I roll in torture during the night and burn during the day. Tell me, old friend, you who made me feel special and important, where did the wind take you? Should I cry for time that conspired against us or should I let you shoulder the burden? I have been reduced into a mess of tears and regret. I have lost my trust and my confidence, come to me, you who gave me strength and take me with you. Tell me I was dreaming and tuck me back to sleep. Smother me with the pillow so I will not wake from this, for what is life, when she that I adored and loved in equal measure walked out on me? Look at me now as I wade knee deep in mud and slime, look at me as I stretch my hands to take you back but oh how far away you are. Come messiah, before...
Read more
-
I see in the news everyday children in tattered clothes walking the streets of Somalia, Burundi and even South Sudan. They look at cameras with their yellow jaundiced eyes, all a picture of pain, hunger and sorrow. And yet we choose either not to care or ignore their plea. Fat men and fat women sit on their tables heaped with food they don’t even eat with the television to keep them company yet, back in those countries, men lay dead in the fields, women walk around forlorn and forsaken. We see a child running up and down screaming and crying looking for their parents among a pile of bodies. We just sigh and change the station, and that is just about it. I see men with mucus in their noses and shuffling with sticks due to their amputated legs, their eyes etched into the distance, hope a very foreign word for them. We claim that Africa is held together by bonds of brotherhood. Which brotherhood or Africa for that matter are we talking about? I see a continent operating on whims of...
Read more