KABEDOOPONG PIDDO DDIBE'ST

 

 

 

The Protest Of Masemba

 

I have heard your words,

But I can find no reason

Why I should obey you;

I would rather die...!

I look for some reason

Why I should obey you,

And I find not the smallest.

If it should be friendship

That you sailed for;

I am ready for it,

Today and forever;

But I will not be your subject...

If it should be war

That itches your buttocks,

So is what you desire,

Then my  hands didn't remain

In my mother's womb...

I do not fall at your flannel feet,

For you're God's bit of dust as I am...

I am sultan in my land;

You're sultan there in yours,

But listen to me:

I do not say you should obey me,

For I know you're a free man,

As for me,

I will not come to you,

And if you're strong enough for it,

Then come and fetch me...

To Comrades-In-Chains

 

O comrades, fellow comrades

  How sadly we all do part:

Some in blood, some in chains

  Once thunders and floods start;

Some in dust, some in stains,

  We do part, fellow comrades.

 

O comrades, beloved comrades

  What a sad sudden flight

Ascending above our mournful heads

  In time of strange shroud of night

Like this, mixed with variegated beads

  Descending on us like arrows of light.

 

O comrades, sweet comrades

  Fellow friends of downtrodden riffraffs

We, the scams of sweltering worlds

  Whose hands are in squeezing cuffs

For slingshots of resillent words

  Must sling more, sweet comrades.

 

O comrades, dear comrades

  Of the revolting nights, spending

Golden hours indoors locked in

  With wonton wind without ending

Struggling day and night to win

  Life's mockery, but falling quietly, comrades.

 

O comrades, open comrades

  The strange wind still wanders

In the foggy fired spume of sky

  Reporting mystic home wonders

Of viscous wind in state descry

  Together we stand, open comrades.

 

O comrades, true comrades

  Dead, we all lay dead

But for a common cause,

  We, on whose blood they're fed,

Rise against hands in disuse;

  Like her for a noble cause, true comrades.

 

O comrades, noble comrades

  Fellow countrymen in chains

Across blood-bathed sandy shores

  This soul comrade who battled pains

Died a comrade in chain guarding our stores

  Now our ribs are hollow, noble comrades.

 

O comrades, brave comrades

  When a grass is removed, the hut leaks,

Like this! As the rains endlessly fall

  Our jaws shutter like birds' beaks

As cold darkness covers us all;

  For a fallen brave soldier, comrades.

 

O comrades, soul comrades

  A sad sudden flight is death

Leaving an everlasting chasm

  Now embedded in every breath

Within the pursuing imperialism

Of the wind, soul comrades.

 

O comrades, precious comrades

  We who lose one lose all

When we still stand and stare

  And show no comradeship care

In a night like this, we all fall:

  Darling, we fare thee well.

 

O comrades, dearest comrades

  The night is a cruel cell

Though some say a safe haven

  Not when guns still drum heaven

And fellow comrades shatter their shells:

   Darling, we fare thee well.

 

O comrades, truest comrades

 We sadly part till we gladly meet again

In the hours of our deaths

  May eternal solace thy soul attain

And evermore soothes the pains

  That embed our deathly breaths.

 

O comrades, fellow comrades

  Of this struggling century

Sweltering with strange crescendo

  And accidental dyings we bury

With no change in the perjury

  In this coaxing diminuendo.

 

We shall no more sing of griefs

  As the heavenly choirs rejoice

We all finally shall find reliefs

  When we stand in common beliefs

For humanity as she raised her voice

  Darling, we fare thee well.

 

Sleep well, darling, sleep well.

 

(For Poetess G. Jamie Dedes, U.S.A

| Died: Friday, 6 November, 2020)

 

© Kabedoopong Piddo Ddibe'st

 

KABEDOOPONG PIDDO DDIBE'ST

 

Kabedoopong Piddo Ddibe'st is an internationally acclaimed multi-talented Ugandan born poet, composer, visual and aural artist, dramatist, cultural,  literary and Human Rights activist, editor, teacher and an amateur actor born in Kitgum, northern Uganda. Of Acholi decent, aged 30. Hundreds of his poems have appeared on different reputable publishing platforms like online national and international magazines, newspapers and anthologies worldwide, in more than ten countries. He's the founder of the upcoming digital literary magazine —"The Elephant Breed Literary Magazine".