To Whom It May Concern

lover! lover! lover!

you think human heart 
is an open page, 
a requiem to be read 
at leisure? 
or you think it a black hole,
impenetrable thick darkness
to peep through? 

what is essential to the heart 
is invisible to the eye—
a reason that knows no reason—
LOVE

one can touch the depth of heart
by tracing the missing lyrics
by bracing the undying memories 
you love with all your heart 
although it gets broken often 
you write cathartically hoping
it’ll get better somewhere down the road
like this desperately romantic lover
who charts the poetic landscape of lost love 
in his "to whom it may concern":

my love,
back in the day when we first met,
I said this: 

in my culture 
a man is judged 
by the size of his farm field
as by the number of his children 
by the heads of cattle he owns 
by the peace he makes 
with gods, people, Nature
and with his personal chi—
ayana

my father had 10 children 
(all without Viagra) 
with two beautiful wives 
I am the first-born 
arrogant bastard 
who chose to be a bard
than a farmer 
and feels younger than the last-
born. hard to break 
soft to please
		
and you said, 
your love to me is
like the rain that always soaks 
your love to me is
like the light that always shines…
 
and I saw 
goodness in your eyes
eternity in our love
unsuspecting 
the fragility of being human 

in the rain 
I tilled the land
I sowed seeds of our love 
in the light 
I tended the farm
I reaped with awe 
the sheaves of its harvest 
I carried home the stocks 
thrashed, winnowed, 
deposited the grain 

I lived and loved 
with sure sense of purpose! 

of late, you grumbled:
now that the rain is gone
it is drought ever since 
you don’t plow 
our grain bank is empty
it is a wasteland
our land is laid fallow

when you left 
you left without trace
and I said: 
take the grace
take the grass
and the luck
with you
but your love

when you left it felt 
a direct insult 
to my sweet sweats 
tilling, tilling the land 
digging, digging the well 
towing, towing the water 

in those lonely nights
darkness crept in
one leg shorter than the other
smiling without a face
touching without a hand

the weather, now, after years,
is good all year long:

the fig tree you knew weak
thin and flaccid 
has now grown fully 
thick and hard and tall
in the yard

the rain rains and soaks the land
as water wets
the light shines and warms heart
as fire burns

not too cold, not too hot

just as ever! 

lover! lover! lover! 
can you see with your nose close to the mirror?

Copyright © | Year Posted 2015



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Date: 12/3/2015 10:04:00 AM
Assefa, haha, I love the write. The ending made perfect of everything... thank you so much for sharing your poetry. SKAT
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Date: 11/29/2015 10:08:00 AM
You are truly "Poet" this is only the second piece of yours that I am reading and I am adding you to my favorite poets list. I am moved by the flow of your thoughts. This is what art is all about.
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