Titrated Poems

Haba! Aids – Iii

Controversies rage on 
Controversies of the non-controversial 
Amongst toad-eyed rumours –
But to UN 
We call with pleading faces 
Like some worshippers 
Praying unto sleeping gods 
Yes, we plead with WHO 
Besides Africa’s new white houses 
White-washed upon her black soil 
That once hosted a proud history 
Of sturdy sons 
With the wrester’s strength 
Among their robust women 
To whose backs were strapped 
Children born for the whole clan –
Where is the radiance
Of the kings & queens? 
Of the pages & praise-singers?
Of guilds of men in gold & silver & bronze?

We call unto UN 
Behind these Third Globe Washington BC huts
Behind these half-baked physician’s stores 
Where health is titrated out of men 
By some hungry medicine men 
Wrongly portfolioed in our healthlines –
We call unto WHO
To save the clan from their rumours 
Preserved from wrong diagnoses 
O, send us the true physician
Of corn & beef
To cure those kwashiorkored bodies 
Bitten by the serpent of hunger 
Diagnosed by the rumour mongers 
Who call it AIDS!
Ha-ha-ha! AIDS?