Many a flower has blossomed and plucked
Since we last said good-bye
Many a cold season has come and gone...
No, it was not the good-bye that hurt
Not the under breath curse we parted with but the question
Whether or not we had parted at all.
Thought many a moon has been borne and gone
Many a dreary summer returned and passed
Whatever visions we have had of others
Are visions reflected on the mirror of our past
Whatever warmth we shared with others
Is warmth evoked in memory of our past…
No, it is not the big loss that hurt
But our unforgotten eyes
Who across the shoulder of those nearer us
In vain, searched for one another,
No, it is not the lingering relapse that hurt
But our unyielding hearts
Who, condemned to remain faithful to our past
Betrayed the hearts of those now closer to us.
Thought, from the four distant corners of mother earth
Many a wild wind blew and appeased
Many a wild dream fulfilled or misfired like ours
We still search in the souls of those now nearer us
For pieces and parts that may resemble our past
Stubbornly hoping against dead ends
Playing both ours and others’ lives false
Eating life with gusto lest she eats us sooner than we thought
Though, many an early dawn has been shaded by many a latter dusk
Many a bright day swallowed by many a dark night
Our past never really changes in us
Like the nature of earth never really changes in her
Like our first love is never really disfigured in our hearts
Like our past still really prevails in our present.
Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin (1936 - 2006) Ethiopia
Source: Major Themes In Ethiopian Poetry In English From 1944 – 1967 E.C, Tewodros Bagale, MA Thesis, University of Addis Ababa, 2002
- Tsegaye Gebre-Medhin was Ethiopian Poet Laureate
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