NOMAD
POETRY in the wind, in the rain…
By
RAIS REZA BONEZA
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This is an excerpt from the complete work, which is being released in paperback as NOMAD: A Refugee Poet
(Write books@author-me.com if interested in a copy.)
THIS is a storm of wounded soul, the thunder of dreams dedicated to all refugees and migrants around the world.
Ah si les colombes pouvaient grandir aux ministere de la defense
Si les colombes pouvaient grandir!
MAHMOUD DARWICH,
.<Rien qu’une autre annee>
Near his table rests a glass of water;
Through his window he glances at passerby;
He observes and always waits, waits, waits.
Bitterness nourishes his being;
Subjected to misunderstandings
And false airs of people'
He is a prisoner.
He sits, hands cupped around his chin
Solemnly thinking.
In his dreaming, his spirits escapes
The world of hardships
And travels in the expanses of the
Wild blue sky.
He leans on his table, half worried, half-contented.
In this place of his there is no compassion;
Evil prowls around its prey;
Rancor sings its melody of morning.
A stranger to his land,
He melancholically sips from his glass--
A sip of freedom.
Marginalized and needy,
Very far is the wind of liberty blowing for him.
He is a clandestine, always without address,
Not a nomad, but a recluse in the midst of humanity.
In his unbroken crystal enclosure
He follows the echoes of his silent screams.
A rock of madness, only solitude answers him.
He startles!
His heart rapidly beats!
He rises from his bed!
Ah! it's only a nightmare!
From the great African cataracts
To the world’ s magnificent Niagara
Waters converge at a commonplace.
Affluent and confluent,
Ways drawn with exactness
The birth of a new cycle
From the dark bottom of the earth
To rise and to take on new life:
Gift of nature ‘ s resources.
Shining sun on the tropics,
Shaking hot on the equator,
Torrid cold winters at the opposite poles---
The succession of seasons,
Witness of the renewal of times.
The globe vibrates in rotation;
The blue planet moves in transition.
All is circular in its path ;
Earth rolls again to it beginning----
Thus ends the tangible;
Thus begins the spiritual.
The disintegration of material
Enters a new evolution:
The flight of souls.
As all runs its course
The shepherd walks with his cattle
From the lowly desert
To the fresh pastures of tropical heights,
His thoughts on the well-being of the herd.
The artist of the soil with his cattle
Plays with the blood of the field
In which he will take his rest.
But more powerful still,
The merchant of words,
Son of water and dust,
With his caravans of Asian silk,
By his pen seeks to fill the cavern of our mind.
Under universal images
The imagination jumps, turns, vibrates,
Becomes visible in its vitality,
Invisible in its eternity.
Then I become a moving reality,
From south to north, from west to east
Behind the path of my star,
Following the power of creativity.
Assiduous explorer of the strange,
Host of the whirling earth,
With my caravan in my heart
I thirst for wisdom,
Hunger for discovery,
Welcome my own inquisitiveness,
And fear not to expose my very being.
Always in waiting, in hearing,
My life is being forged by patience.
Always I wait---it is my hope.
In the labyrinth of existence
I am a prowler.
Journeying through confusion.
In the coldness of rude epochs
I remain a man of prayer, a believer,
A man resting in the hands of the provider.
As the waters of the Himalayas
Become a rushing river,
Tumbling over rocks and heights
And finally ends in the vastness of the ocean,
So I, too, was born
To travel the waterways of my experiences
To one day come to the ultimate purpose of my existence.
Rais@copyryght2002
Thanks:
Author-me.com,Bruce L.Cook,Br. Robert Camilo of the brother of the sacred heart,Christian Bakina,Junior Barizira,Mireille Mpozenzi, Thimothy, Interaid Uganda for his faithful workTo improve the life of refugees,FEMRITE Uganda,Aaron Mushengezi lecturer of the faculty of Art of Makerere university of Kampala, Prof.Kwado osei of London university, la famille Boneza,
The group Makaramba,Ingenieur Lagu of ABB/Kpla,Lawyer Carol Kintu, Reverend Bonaventure of
The diocese of Oima/ug, Edith Ngomora,Alice Murangaza, Hasmita,Instiut Mendeleo de Goma,Ambassade de la republique du Congo au Burundi,la jeunesse vive de Rohero,Mutanga Nord a Bujumbura/Burundi,Pr.Ndeberi of university of Burundi….That river of our destiny allows us to meet again one day in a spirit of peace and fraternity.
