Silent

As a school boy had no intention to learn,

Any more than I could productively burn.

Nor did I want to travel to a distant land,

Beyond the parameters of the hills,

Where I grew up kicking my naked butt with my heels.

But by a quirk of fate,

Mercy Lord of the innocents and privates,

I was catapulted to a land far remote.

And in trying to decipher what had happened,

And at the same time dealing with the situations

I found myself in,

I acquired knowledge far too much I had hoped and I can cope with.

However, deploying the knowledge,

To my advantage,

Proved to be a delicate matter to manage.

If I were to open my mouth,

And speak out,

I know what will follow:

A ridiculous sneezing at I could get,

Or worst, a wrath from the people I live with,

And a denial of the means I could subsist with,

Conversely, If I were to keep silent,

Which I am doing at the moment,

I know long before dawn,

The dormant anger inside me had won -

Consuming my essence right to the core of the bone.

Copyright Haileselassie Girmay

8/1/99