‘ODE TO THE HUNGRY STOMACH’ By Ghelawdewos Araia
True words on the fate of Ethiopia…this poem is on point!
ODE TO THE HUNGRY STOMACH
Ghelawdewos Araia
http://www.africanidea.org/ode.html
That Ethiopian belly once again starving
My people once again dying
The Ethiopian nation altogether crying
That Ethiopian mother for her children mourning
Though she herself fails to appease the dust
Struggles in vain to survive that won’t for sure last
She may even wish to make the transition fast
For she would become hopeless, helpless without trust
Oh! Mother Ethiopia who gave birth to the hero in agriculture
The repository of complex rich culture
The protagonist in early horticulture
What an irony to die of man-made drought and not of nature
The Ethiopian peasant, reservoir of human faculty
He who incorporated divine power of fecundity
Legend in handicraft, pottery-making infinity
Now, your soul is compromised by famine lack of alacrity
You master of granary, now starve and go hungry!
Witnessing the demise of your cattle, defying veterinary
What a cruel testimony and a bizarre twist of history
That enrages me, makes me mad and angry
You master of the soil, terrace, and landscape
You master of the cattle on all land and cape
Sadly, you are unable to skip death and escape
What an agonizing ordeal that I wish I could fake
You master of the honeybees that furnish bactericide
I can’t believe you are let down to genocide
Those who brought you death don’t contemplate suicide
They may want to superimpose on you the culture of homicide
But you are indefatigable master of self-sacrifice
You don’t even bring your cattle for sacrifice
I bow in your honor once, twice, and thrice
You master of gallantry, Ethiopia’s pride
You probably don’t know the culprit that hide
All the food that you produce including skin and hide
You are then devastated by the famine tide
It is simply unfathomable, unconscionable
To see my Ethiopian hero seek any food edible
This to me is beyond comprehension, incredible
A shattering encounter, an ordeal so terrible
You master of the waters, architect of shallow well
Now with a hungry stomach you have faced a dreadful spell
The world is focused on you; people have a story to tell
While you countenance that earthly hell
An earthly hell in the Ethiopian pastureland
Now an arid zone degraded soil wasteland
Could there be some mystery too grand?
A chemical that undermines fertile arable land
Chemical fertilizer can cause soil acidity
As opposed to manure dung organic tranquility
And our hero knows it from his daily activity
Although cynics emphasized on his stupidity
Our hero knows why he is starving
Despite the disillusioned public but caring
They think that nature impeded him from grain buying
And they wrongly assume that he was destined to dying
Early on the Ethiopian land degraded by ecological disaster
Coupled by the introduction of chemical fertilizer
Globalization that makes the Hero a panhandler
Lack of comprehensive development it engender
Oh! My Ethiopian hero in agriculture, animal husbandry
I am sorry to see your pasture and farm dry
The whole of Ethiopia grief and cry
I will extend my hand; I won’t let you fry
I will, we will come to your aid
Before the time elapses, the Sun fade
We will avenge you before other culprits invade
We will expedite famine relief and development upgrade
Hang on my peasant hero, stay alive
With your vision and our commitment, you will survive
With development and appropriate technology, you will revive
And you will harness nature, the time will arrive.
Don’t you worry! Every society has its own problems. Every individual, whether poor or rich, a farmer or a professor, has their own problems. People suffer, cry and die everywhere one way or the other. There is always a good side of being poor and hungry, as long as it’s not expressed in spiritual poverty and hunger.
H.G.Bruno
September 20, 2008 at 4:09 pm