This week Richard Likumba’s poem DESERTED FIRE is one of two that he read at Kitwe Little Theatre, where the Kitwe Poetry Corner poets meet.
DESERTED FIRE
By Richard Likumba
The fire that once blazed resplendent
Now lies in desolate isolation, despondent
The gaiety that once filled the village square
Has fled in search of other fanfare.
The podium that once held such great oration
Is today the subject of bygone glorious narration
Thick as a slab of butter is the silence
That pervades the fire place that lies deserted since.
On the fringes of the luminance of the embers,
Filter feeble and desolate voices that remember
The warmth that once filled the now deserted fire
Jackals and wolves now in the fire stare
With great gusto they rushed to the citadel
Hastily adorned disguises of human form
They thronged to the bounty that was warm
Their thin veneer now well worn, lies exposed bare
In congested frustration, to infrastructure the ire
Is directed, ripping what once adorned the village square
Grimacing cracks in walls jeer their machinations
To tear down the constant reminder of their failure
In the midst of this gloom a stray twig on the embers
Crackles, giving the life support throb; a reminder
Of a kindred spirit that can not be extinguished
Keep the glow for it shall soon be dawn.
All Diaspora shall come to roost
All jackals and wolves shall be tames
The fire that ebbed shall be rekindled
And it shall no longer be called
The Deserted Fire
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