If Only....


I went to school off age,

A little rusty but all the same

I did manage.

Though I would be the first person to admit

That I would like to have been taught

the other way round.

Not for the good old times Mores' sake,

Nor to allow sufficient time to garner

the fruit of my labour,

But for something novel - grandeur.

However, notwithstanding these, I wish I were so young,

If only my parents were still around and had a bit of money,

If they had not had died,

If only they could come back,

But what is the use come to think of, unlike auld lang syne,

they soon would realize the world had shrunk.

And wherever there is a small space left to maneuver,

It is infested with legalized loan sharks.

I had better tell them to stay put where they are,

Not to venture earthbound at these bleak hours.

Copyright Haileselassie Girmay

15/3/2002