“The bitter tears”
Under this shade
Heat is showered
Only in the forest not a living place
I wish my parents emerge here
Am no good to walk with my peer
If I will ever have minutes of rest
To sleep with rats
Must I return at long last
For the left overs
Rats will spend night on me
Biting my thumbs and feet
Then emptying the plates
The eloquent public speech
Turns to oppression
Child, sufuria and clothes
All for me to observe
School is behind the kitchen
No short cut unless that tedious road
Breakfast before I brush and wash
I wash crockery
Day scholars dot for their lessons
The brush and washing before breakfast usually
Before taking breakfast I do
This sleeping maniac throws basket
That’s the lunch beginning
Big words thrown on me
My friends get rid of the breakfast
On my walk to the market
Lunch will be ready
And I must be sent somewhere in a while
On my return supper should be prepared
By the time I see those uniforms I admire
Along the road
I will be busy in my bedroom
Stirring competing with darkness
They later go to dinner me dressing beds
God you have seen all these
Sweet daddy you left me here
Mummy with you as well
Whom shall I call next?
Oh doves you are said to be kind!
Bear mercy on me
I am twenty years, young
I can’t weigh the beauty I possess
Boys see me and walk on all fours
Admiring me in my daily dress
My bare feet and smile broadly
I can’t write a single letter of love
You love me I get it
But I admire sufuria more than you
For I am used to it
That’s why I always turn my face aside
Then you beckon on my back
I will marry knowledge
Worse I still fear
That in a day or two
I’ll get good clothes and shoes
Heading for a villager’s home
Before getting my dreams true
I’ll rather marry rats if not a Penn