Home 9 Literary Archive 9 Poetry 9 Poems by Tichaona Zindoga

Poems by Tichaona Zindoga

Hero who never came back

Time was when you were fire.

In speech: your words seared the enemy,
Struck fear in his heart.
And fire from those hands
boxed and fought.
Also the fire of romance
That burned women’s hearts;
The nights that you warmed
With fierce lovemaking.

Until that fateful day
When they smothered you,
Poured water on your body and spirit,
Cut your tongue,
Opened your fists
And crushed your manhood.

Then tepid water ran in your blood;
And the mouth that spat flames
Came back dripping the honey
Of pacification;
The bed became cold, unresponsive;
Age and suffering
Chilled the fiery desire of youth;
Eyes once refulgent with rage,
Shining bright,
Stared into a lifeless abyss.

We know the hero that went away
Never returned –
His captors happily gave a poor excuse.
And so he became a man
Devoid of fire and passion,
Waiting for an inglorious end,
A sheep led to the slaughter –
That hero no longer ours,
Estranged husband and father,
Poor excuse that went away
And never returned.

 

Preacher

He came to us with new doctrines –
To love ourselves more than our neighbours;
To love gold and not God;
That Heaven was to be enjoyed here on earth
For nobody knew what happened after death.

He did not speak to us about salvation,
About hell or eternal damnation,
But he told us about wealth creation,
Enrichment, expansion.

In church the word was Money,
And money was the Word:
We abandoned God and his son,
Believing it a holy con.

Yes, he spoke with conviction,
And that God put him in this position
To help us out of poverty,
And pursue freedom and liberty,
For Man’s will is eternal
And God’s word just peripheral.