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.