Wednesday, March 1, 2017

TEDINI JAMES GRANT


TEDINI JAMES GRANT

SUICIDAL WISH

Sitting under the big mango,
Staring at the yellow leaves
That mama mango tree sheds.
The yellow leaves looked so useless and with no hopes
Just like this man,
He compared his life with the yellow leaves,
Useless, helpless and in fact dead.
For a minute,
Wishes of hopelessness got him drowned
The illusion-filled mind generated feelings
And the man started murmuring
“My father died a poor man
I have been struggling all my life
To make an outstanding difference,
But to date;
I have no tangible evidence
46 years of hard work.
My dear wife complains every day and night
For she couldn’t speak the language of other women
Even my children couldn’t go to good schools
Good food in plate
I provided not
I have inherited nothing
And will surely leave nothing
For my children to inherit!”
He looked at the rope hanging freely
As the strong wind bangs on it
Touching his bald head
He smiled ghostly
And said;
“I am going to kill my self
By this rope, I will die
And find a long lasting peace
In the world of loneliness
Where no one mocks
Money matters not







THE GARDEN

That day in June
I went to my garden
With my long African hoe handle
The grasses appeared so greenish
As the wind brushes along the leaves
I heard them clap in unison
Sending a sweet sound in the air
Their beautiful flowers got my nostrils enriched
With the sweet aroma of the nectars
As I lowered my hoe into the soil
It touched the succulent leaves
Covered with the cold dews
And the dews fell on my leg
The beautiful bird that sat on the tree
Once again, sang
The beautiful songs of joy
Standing still,
I glanced at the sweet singing creature,
And glided my ear at an angle
The sweet echoing sound
And the smile on my face was broadened
I gained more energy
And eventually dug through the soil pans
Evacuating the deep loam-sand mixture
While uprooting the various species of weeds
I sang the old songs
My ancestors sang decades ago
While sweating profusely
Getting the seed bed ready
Soft for my staple food crop








THE BLACK CHILD

I am an African child
Dark as the night
My joy comes with the dawn
I wake up early like the birds from their roost
Stretching my cold fingers to the air
The cold morning air that brings forth fortunes
My chest, I clothed not
For the coldness hardens me up
The joy that feels me
When the beautiful birds sing
As I imitate and dance along
Hunger, I feel not
Until when I see our only cow chews its cud
And licks her calf with tenderness,
While waging her tail endlessly
The little calf moos
Sending a message of hunger to mother calf
And my hunger activates too
I rush to the kitchen
For the cold potato left-over awaits
Covered with many ants
And several other species of insects
I brush them off with my dirty hands,
And fill my stomach with it
Off, I rush to the stream
Where the cold water lodges
And dip myself into it
The pleasant shower fills me joy


TEDINI JAMES GRANT, is a Ugandan Born aged 26. I belong to the Ma'di people of Adjumani and speaks Ma'diti as a language.

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