As the morning rises
He rises from a bed
Not of roses
He awakes from a bed
Made of full thorns and thistles
He misses sleep
He battles wakefulness
And wakes from sleeplessness
As the morning breaks and brightens
He jumps out of his automobile
His new model
And hurries into one of their rickety mini-buses
Trusting to cut fuelling stress
And tune down running expenses
He wades through the traffic
And the fare he pays
Makes no fair sense
It’s way beyond a man’s expectations
Man’s expenses
He hurries away from home
Knowing what awaited him
Knowing what he had provided was near to nothing
Knowing it would suffice not for a day
Not for a home
But knowing not how to grow up an income
He is buried in thoughts about how
About how to make some ends come to meet
How to buy fish or meat
How to beat down the rising prices
How to scuttle the suffocating crises
He does not know even now
As he hurries to begin a day’s work now
II
She hurries to a bargaining point
Knowing not what awaited
But knowing what she needed
Knowing what she held in her *toma*
That would not meet the bargain
Knowing not how to fix her *toma’s* empty woes
Even to buy tomatoes
She is buried in thoughts about how
About how to make an evening meal…suffice
That stew and the rice
She does not know even now
As she hurries to the kitchen now
III
They hurry into the boarding school
Knowing not what awaited
But knowing they must be fed
Knowing what the dinning table offered
Knowing it would not get them well-fed
Knowing not when the next table would be laid…in school
They are buried in thoughts about how
About what to eat now
About how to add to a lean plate…later
About how long they needed to wait
Inside the school’s gate
Would the plates wait to be placed later?
They do not know even now
IV
They hurry out from a higher learning
Knowing not what awaited
But knowing they must find job placements
Knowing not what pertains in the job market
But believing to eke out a living
Living one day…from a higher earning
They are buried in thoughts about how
About how to seek to find a job
About how to make a living
About how long they needed to wait
Whether to expect the harvest now
Or wait till it’s late
They do not know even now
The post Poetry Corner with Kwesi BISSUE: A Sense of the Occasion appeared first on The Business & Financial Times.
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