Death, come and take me, and I’ll fly away, Fly away where I won’t see tears again

, a young poet and writer, who was born in DR Congo, raised orphan and spent life in a refugee camp, shares his poetry

Charles Lipanda Matenga, was born and raised orphan at Rwenena Village, Uvira, Sud-Kivu, D R Congo in 2005. Charles Lipanda Mahigwe is President of African Youth Artistic Poetry-AYAP. 

WHEN SHALL MY TEARS DRY?

Death, come and take me, and I’ll fly away

Fly away where I won’t see tears again

Tears streaming down my cheeks everyday

Every day that I can’t feel any more pain

Life, surrender me and expose me to vultures

Vultures that can cease me

Cease me that I shan’t be seen by any cultures

Cultures vulgarize my own family to the sea

My birth is longer zephyr, but rough

My throat becomes needle

As I drink this cup of my own blood

It sours, this soul shall tear apart

I blame my existence on this wicked world

I wish I’ve never been here

Not only here, but even there

For everyone around me is dead

So am I

I’m dead man walking in space

But when my face shall be tied like lace

I shall go in the woods and hear the sounds

I don’t need to be tombed

So if I die today, don’t burry me underground

Leave me here alone and let me be bombed

My heart and soul shall praise the lord when I’m gone

My mouth and tongue shall sing all along

My legs and arms shall stand and come back home

And my ears and eyes shall go to LUBERIZI River and hear the song

The song once sung by my late father

And I shall be in somber with my late mother

My late mother shall rise from the grave and kiss me again

And whisper those beautiful words

Beautiful words I used to hear from her when I was I kid

And shall never weep again

For there will be no pain

But when shall these tears dry?

***

IF

If I was asked to choose between

The moonlight and the sunlight

I’d choose the moonlight

For you look glowing at my sight

Your eyes shine as you blink

Your lips flow curls of drops as you drink

I want right close to you

As you’re primping yourself

Padding slowly your hands

Kissing you like in the rain

Flying away like stars in the sky

Dancing in the shower

And diving like fish in the Lake Tanganyika

I’ll be sky

And you, my stars

For I’ll ne’er be lit without you

Together we can mingle

Like magnesium oxide

We can make the earth so bright

Let our love be blooming like flowers

Even when we grow and become towers

Girl,

If I were a singer

I’d sing you lullabies to make you sleep

If I were a writer

I’d write it all about you

If I were a reader

I’d read you every single minute into your eyes

If a pioneer

I’d play you with all my fingers

For you’re the strings

Producing sounds as air pass by

If I were a teacher

I’d teach you how to love me

Instead of Western Education

For this love breathes as I talk to you

If I were asked to choose between life wife

I’d rather say wife

Sighing like eagles

‘Tis you who would kill my devils

For you’re my heart

But if you stop beating and pumping blood

I’ll dry away like autumn leaves

And these blood vessels will turn into ashes

Life is senseless without you

***

BROKEN WINGS

This type of love flies

So far in space and skies

A love

These wings are you and I

Let’s hold our love so tight and fly there high

Let nobody take us apart

And make one heart

I’m no longer single

For we’ve already mingle

Let’s live in art

For within this start

Each one will take their part

Performing tasks like dust in air

And I shall hold your hair

Tapping your back

With my fingers all around

Like tires moving on the ground

With you, I’m the flower held on the pestle

Without you, I’m the tree’s branch that’s dry and brittle

Our love’s wings are breaking

And my arteries are stopping working

Another part of my heart which is you

Is becoming ice like the ewe

This feeling I have

It’s like a storm brewing

Everything shaking even above

As galaxies glowing

This type of love lies

With her broken wings

I’m suffocating as she dies

She’s hardly moving as it stings

A bee

_____________

Published under International Cooperation with "Sindh Courier"