Learner - Mahadai Das

I am the great learner.

I devour the apple but before that,

I halve, then quarter

and eighth it.

 

I am a baby feeding on mashed yams.

I discover red apples and green ones,

Small apples, large ones. Romanos,

Granny Smiths.

I have eaten them.

Flame in the gut. Like a Chinese dragon,

I hold horses, I drive and I breathe fire.

Adam and Eve in one, I am in a garden,

eating. Breathing.

There are raspberries too, and bananas,

The banana-man sells me some.

I, oriental fire-dragon, mother Kali

in China, wrap snakes around my neck and

eat the fruits, belching out ribbons of fire

into the snow-white prison to which I am 

relegated.

Bars are white hot iron.

Books encased in cartons stand low

against the bars.

---

Mahadai Das (1954 - 2003) Guyana

Source: Stabroek News