I mostly dream
of your brick-coloured body…
blendig the soft brown earth
from the Yellow River valley
with the bronze dust of Mauritania
and the damp red clay
from the Amazon delta
it's all just longing...
nothing more
Mauritania is a country to which I don't often go
'cos my name is Santa ~ Ho, ho, ho!
90% of its territory is in the Sahara Desert
to survive the heat, I'd have to remove my shirt
Which, no doubt, would cause a commotion
mostly mine, having created an ocean
of sweat, trickling down from my beard to my feet
and, by the way: Anything in Mauritania for me to eat?
Earth talks without speech or words
Around the globe its message can be heard
Wildfires ravaging from Sydney to California
Massive floods from China to Oceania
Drought in Mauritania
Whales beaching in Tasmania
The starlit night proclaims the loom
Where can we hide from the doom
Neither in the sea nor in the cave
Neither in the dark nor in the grave
There is no place
O! wandering child how far would you go?
how lost would you be found,?
Into the caves of nature extravaganza
No brother to keep you, no mother to wean you
no guardian to hood until you stumble into
The pit of random jamboree.
Like the cotton wool you wave
From nooks to crannies
And the wind is your transport
When it blows, you go
from Kilimanjaro to olumo rock
from California to Mauritania.
Rumble no more my dear,
to stumble no further
to be drunken in your misery.
your protractor is found
your compass is located
and navigation is activated.
So gather your experiences
endeavors & sail home
Turn home & you will be greeted
By mother repentance
Open hands
No greater injustice than this:
To condemn people to death, just for tender acts of love,
While
Rewarding others, for committing barbarous acts in war! *
© Demetrios Trifiatis
06 April 2019
* Brunei is introducing new laws that make sex between men an offense punishable by stoning to death. Other countries that have similar laws are : Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Sudan Mauritania and parts of Nigeria and Somalia according to BBC. There are currently 70 counties that criminalize same sex relations says ILGA!
In seeming innocence you lie in the warm ochre
in the center of a dust-kicked street,
a remnant of larger issues crushed to just the right size
by killing blows.
Before the mob merged before catcalls
raised the hairs on the back of your neck,
you had been of a favorite pet a cherished wife.
A wife and mother now lies dead brought down by
the bloodlust
of the men around her.
Today, the stones are coated rust-red with her blood
as another women of Iraq is laid low by the men who own them
husbands sons and fathers.
*Stoning is called Rajm in Islamic literature, and a practice found in United Arab Emirates, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Northern Nigeria, Aceh in Indonesia, Brunei, and Pakistan. Stoning is part & parcel of patriarchal societies.
Mauritania O Mauritania
I work for the emir in Mauritania
My father worked for the emir in Mauritania
My grandfather worked for the emir in Mauritania
My great grandfather worked for the emir in Mauritania
My great great grandfather worked for the emir in Mauritania
But I don’t want to work for the emir in Mauritania
My father did not want to work for him either
My grandfather was loath to work for him
My great grandfather was forced too
My great great grandfather had to
They were all forced to labor
For the Emir of Mauritania
Mauritania, Mauritania
Why slave away
In Mauritania
Oh why?
Why?
Tell me poets of Mauritania
Tell me poets of Africa
Tell me poets of the world
Tell me why the children
Of Mauritania have to
Live their lives
In a time warp
Dressed as
A cast
Sys
Te
M
?
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