Jack Mapanje

1944 / Mangochi

Beasts of Nalunga V

It's after they've drained
the people's blood that
the lion heads, rhinoceros
trunks and hyena hinds -
the sphinxes we call beasts
of Nalunga - prowl about
the land marauding like
rabid monsters, maiming.
And no guns, not even
game rangers' guns; no
voices, not even ancestral
voices, no police bullets,
no army bombs, no Young
Pioneers machete or Young
Democrat phangas, nothing
but nothing beats beasts
of Nalunga; stab, hack or
shoot them, no blood will
splatter nor is their DNA
detectable; whatever you
take them, however you
see them, the brutes will
not shy away, for beasts
of Nalunga are cyclic sagas
of people besotted by wars,
battles, tyrants, plagues.
115 Total read