Friday, October 27, 2017

Rashid Pelpuo writes


Can you count for me Maabro?

In this land

full of mischief
in the yearning
search for the things
of joy we still have
less nimble trudgers
seeking to win
salvation by the
sheer mention of a wish

Maabro can you see that?
Can you see
how far behind
these others are?
Can you count
for me the reasons
why manna must still
fall into the hands
of helpless praying souls
in prayer houses
shouting at their
maker in frenzied
aggression in beggar
prayer tones?

Maabro
Can you count
more reasons
why the maker of man
must come with a basket
full of blessings
to knock at closed doors
to ignite a clumsy lousy
sleeping slumpy people
who spend time breeding
poverty to court
sympathy to be fed
by others?

Maabro don’t stop the count
Can you still count for me
the reasons why
leaders and people
in licentious mode
enjoy raping the state lame
crippled by fraud and avarice
and expect great harvest
in a world
of competing dreams?

Maabro, let me tell you this..
In this crowded
arenas of choices,
times doors
will not open until you
pull or push hard to open
in any growing
quest for more

Tell them
Tell our people to stop
Complaining to our Father above
that Jaato came to the
world with them
but has taken all
the good things and all the
wealth he gifted
and left them
in hankering penury

Look well Maabro
and be satisfied
that the land here is as good
as the one they adore overseas
over which they die in the seas

Tell them Maabro,
that the dream
to win is set clear
The times are ripe
in uncertain terms,
The way is broad
in the light of day
and the rains are coming
in clever quantities

So tell the people
to change gears
and do the speed
and reap the gains
in these gifted lands
weeping endlessly
to breed happy souls
Tell them
to choke off helplessness
and taunting greed and disown
these corrupt regimes
so wealth will be our friend

 Heinrich Aldegrever (German, 1502 - about 1561) Lazarus Begging for Crumbs from Dives's Table, 1552, Pen and brown ink, brown wash, traces of black chalk, incised for transfer 7.8 x 10.8 cm (3 1/16 x 4 1/4 in.) The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
 Lazarus Begging for Crumbs from Dives' Table -- Heinrich Aldegrever

1 comment:

  1. There was a rich man ["dives" in Latin] who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, "Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire." But Abraham replied, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us." He answered, "Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment." Abraham replied, "They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them." “No, father Abraham," he said, "but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
    --Luke 16: 19-31

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