by Esi Ansah, 2/18/08
Old money, no money and many-a-disease
Triple neighbors in a Bermudan headlock
They have unnatural identities – christened afresh
With names like Kwashiokor, Polio, and Rickets
River Blindness, Beri Beri and Respiratory Troubles
Malaria and Chicken Pox, Measles and Fevers
Diarrhea and Cholera, Flus and Depression
Thrashed bodies and twisted bones –
Morbid identities
Right before my eyes, they glide silently by
Pouting bellies mounted on cassava stilts
Fly-garnished little faces, with salty traces
Torment from unwelcome companions -
Mosquitoes and roaches, rats and scorpions
Worms and ticks, lice and mice – one big gang
Sucking and tearing, eating up and destroying …
Old money, no money and many-a-disease
~~~~~~~
New money, full bellies and still many-a-disease
Easy-going lovers spiraling into a blissful abyss
Sedentary lard, glued to a sofa, stuck to a bed
Rolling in comfort, no neighbors like roaches
In these Antarctic havens, no neighbors like ticks
Deadly names still emerge from new asylums
Diabetes and Heart Disease, Obesity and Depression
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, dying eyes behind spectacles
Here are the new lovers in the loaded triangle
Sky-high cholesterol and growing sodium mines
Anti-social butterflies, isolated from all nature
Trapped in a steel planet, robots at their service
Princes and princesses of dear old Zamunda
The future still unfolds, and eyes are yet to see
How living in a box, and dwelling on sugar mountains
Become the biggest robbers of childhood vitality
Diamonds in the rough, concealed by old giants
True pearls and precious jewels regardless of their state
All deserve the zenith of what this life can offer
No more love affairs between strange bedfellows –
Old money, new money, no money and many-a-disease
Dare to lift them out of their very miry clay
Dare to liberate them out of their muddy spiral
Dare to deliver from Bermudan strongholds
Dare to give life, amidst many, many deaths
Their angels are failing, their muses are silent
Dare to give life, and dare to inspire
Copyright © 2008 by Esi Ansah. All rights reserved.