Another Lament

Regret and tears fill My sunken and wrinkled eyes As my withering body With my bent back Never to be straightened! As I know that the grave Is near me than never Regret filled my slowly beating heart! As I look at the young ones Running innocently around Crying for their mothers milk And the adults Returning from the farms Bearing the heavy fruits Of the days labour And homeward they Plow their weary way Regret fill the hollow of my wasted years! As the sun is setting With the moon shining And the mortars pounding And the babies chuckling And the kids laughing And the men drinking I could not but weep That Africa has lost a lot And regret that I The last of my generation Will soon go Leaving nothing but tales!