Ignatius T. Mabasa

Kana ndafa
Handidi mariro
Anotaurwa zvakazorwa huchi
Zvichimononoka setsvina
Zvichikuhumuka semazhizha
Aneta kurembera pamuti.
Handidi zvinotaurwa zvichirungwa
Nekupfikura kwechitsotsi, kune skiri
Handidi misodzi yemate
Netumashoko twakakweretwa
Kunhamo dzeburial society
Tumashoko twakati twasu
Tuchipenya kunge njanji.

Imi, kana ndafa
Ndivigei
Maruva enyu handianzwi kunhuwirira
Nziyo dzenyu handidzinzwi pasi pevhu
...

When I die
I don't want a funeral
With tall speeches
Falling like yellow leaves
Punctuated by
Rehearsed sniffs and coughs
I don't want faked tears
Borrowed lines and lies
So shiny and straight like railway lines.

When I die
Just bury me
Dispatch me.
Put me in the ground.
...

MunaSamora Machel Avenue
Ndakatsika vamwe amai nemota
Asi handina kumira, ndakatiza

Ndakavaona pagirazi remumota
Mai vachibidirika nemarwadzo
Pedzisire vati pfau-pfau, favava, zii-i
Chingwa chavo chiri parutivi pavo
Asi handina kukwanisa kumira.

Nekutyira hupenyu hwangu
Ndakafambisa mota mubvonyongera
Ndichitiza bishi nebesanwa
Ndichivavarira kuenda kumba
Ndokunge kwakanga kuchinemba

MunaSamora Machel Avenue
Ndakatsika vamwe amai nemota
Asi handina kumira, ndakatiza

Mabara epfuti akanga achiridza miridzo
Vanhu vakanga vachitiza nehupenyu hwavo
Kwaive kutanga kwechimwe chimurenga here?
Hondo ine ropa, rufu nekuparadza…..

MunaSamora Machel Avenue
Ndakatsika vamwe amai nemota
Asi handina kumira, ndakatiza

Ndakavaona vachikuyiwa negonyeti
Ruwoko rukadambuka, musoro ukaputika
Mwoyo wangu wakajuja ropa navo
Asi handina kumira, ndakatiz
...

Along Samora Machel Avenue,
I knocked a woman down
But I didn't stop.

I saw her toss and turn
In my rear-view mirror
Before lying still, twisted
Next to her loaf of bread,
But I couldn't stop.

Fearing the crowd would get me,
I drove on in the confusion
To flee from the chaos
To try and get home
If home was still there.

Along Samora Machel Avenue,
I knocked a woman down
But couldn't stop.

Bullets were flying
People were dying.
Another mass uprising?

Along Samora Machel Avenue
I knocked a woman down
But I didn't stop.

A heavy truck reduced her to pulp
And this was no fiction.
I bled with her - profusely
But I just couldn't stop!
...

Ndisiyei ndiite mai vangu mukadzi
Ndiregei ndirare nehanzvadzi yangu
Ndisiyei ndigozvishambadzira nyika paTV
Vanhu vagondiuchirira nekundirumbidza

J Lo akanogadzirwa, kuti magaro akure
Asi madhodhi aanoita achingori mamwe chete.

Sarudzo, sarudzo, sarudzo mwana wamai
Ndakanotora mbeu yedonor kusperm bank
Dai mwana akangofanana nababa vake!

Ngatisaviga vafa, avo vane mbiri pakati pedu
Idzo nyenyedzi dzedu nedziri pamureza wedu
Kuti rudzi rwedu rurarame nekusingaperi.

Mwari wenyu wamunovimba naye ndeupi?
Nyenyedzi chaidzo dzisingadzime dziri kudenga.
...

Mukadzi uya, mai vaNyevero
Ane zino rine mhango, ramutambudza.
Murume wake akaenda London kare kare
Nyevero achiri kuyamwa, iko zvino ave kuchikoro
Tingavape mhosva here mai vaNyevero
Kuti mhango dzavashaisa hope?

Mai Nyevero vanyatsosarudza pekugara
Kundigarira beya rakaisa musana panze
Vachiyanika magumbeze ezvidya zvitsvuku
Vanyenama vachiti, "Vana Mhizha miti izere
Asi matemo enyu ane ngura, asakara, akagomara!"
Vandichonya, ndokukumba marokwe avo vachienda
Vachiseka sebere rinofara mumhindo yerima.

Usiku vanonorara kwebenzi riya Gandari.
Vanomudii Gandari benzi remunhu
Akabatwa nezuro aine mukadzi waticha!

Aids iyika ine mavara seshato, iguhu, chipoko
Asi ichatikuhumura semashizha . . .
...

That woman, the mother of Nyevero
Has a tooth that needs a filling.
Her husband has been in London
Since Nyevero was 2, now she is 7
Who can blame the mother of Nyevero
For having so many cavities?

Mai Nyevero, carefully chooses her seat.
She sits carelessly opposite me,
Exposing plump thighs, and grins
"Look Mhizha, the forest is full of trees
But your axes are old, rusty and blunt"
She winks at me, gathers her skirts and swishes off,
Laughing like a happy hyena in the dead of night.

Night finds her in bed with that fool Gandari.
But woman, Gandari was caught last week
Naked in bed, with the new teacher's wife.

This Aids - python, myth or phantom
Will surely finish us all off . . .
...

Hwayi hwayi huyai
Tinotya
Munotyeiko
Mapere
Mapere akaenda Hwedza . . .

Ndasuwa mhepo yakachena
Mhepo isina hutsi hwemota nefodya,
Ndasuwa mapani nemaruva esango
Zvakasubvurwa nemidhuri mirefu-refu

Ndinoona vana vakachenuruka mumigwagwa
Vachitamba, vachitandanisana nekubvutirana
Condom ravanhonga vakafuridza sechibharuma
Makondomu akasimba, haabvaruke
Anokwanisa kutakura malitre matatu emvura . . .

Ndinovheyesa meso angu serwaivhi
Ndichitsvaga nyuchi, mikonikoni nemashavishavi
Ndichitsvaga rukodzi runozeya mumakore
Asi chandinoona ihangaiwa dzinodya zvihwitsi
Ndinoona gunguwo rakaruma gaba reyoghurt

Ndinoshevedzera, munhu, munhu
Asi hapana anondidaira mubishi rino
Hapana wandinowana mumakondomu muno
Muzere zvitai-tai nema ringing tones
Magweta, maprofessor nedzimwe nyanzvi
Dzinofunga kuti munhu ari mumabhuku
Ndiye mumwe chete neanofamba . . .
Ndiyani iyeye akati mapere akaenda Hwedza?
...

I miss the open air
In the open fields.
I miss the stretching space
That was usurped,
By high-rise glass buildings.

I see ashen street kids
Playing and fighting
For an inflated used condom.
"Strong, dependable and
Can hold up to 3 litres of water".

I look around me
For the coloured butterfly
And the soaring eagle,
But the city has created
Urban modern birds.
The candy eating pigeon
The hamburger-munching crow.

I miss the human-being
In all this concrete and plastic
Where robots and computers
Professors and talk-show hosts
Telemarketers and experts
Tell me what is best for me
Even if they don't know me.
...

Tinofamba zvisina ruzha, tichienda kumakuva
Isu, zvitunha zvakabatirana bhokisi rine mitumbi yedu

Taisimbove nehupenyu
Nehupfumi hwainhuwirira
Nemari yaitenga uchisara neimwe muhomwe.

Nhasi tave munda uzere makuva
Makuva matsva, azere zvitunha zvipenyu
Nemichinjikwa yetumiti twakakokonyara.

Makunguwo ari pamabiko
Ari kutumbura zvitunha.
Icho chachoborwa ziso
Icho chachoborwa mhino . .
Makunguwo ari kuimba
Zvapera, zvapera, hapana achachema
Hapana achaviga, hapana achataura
Kana ivhu rekufusira vafi hapachina
...

We silently walk to the cemetery
We, pall-bearers of our own coffins

We used to have a life
And an economy
Running on dollars and sense

Now we are a graveyard
Full of shallow graves.
Mounds of fresh earth
And crooked stick crosses.

Ravens disembowel corpses
Singing a harsh type of dirge
No dignity, no rites, no tears
No pastor, no speech, no soil!
...

Gwe gwengwendere
Gwedebu, gwedebu!
Kugwedebudza hakusi kubika!

Vakomana, nhetembo hadzisi ruzha
Nhetembo hadzisi bishi,
bongozozo nemhere-mhere!
Nhetembo hadzisi hasha bedzi
Nhetembo harusi rudo rwega
Nhetembo haisi mitsara.

Hatingati mabvumira, mutinhimira
Mahon'era, tsumo nemadimikra
Ndizvo nhetembo, kwete.
Zviripo, zvirimo zvirimo munhetembo
Izvozvo hamuzvioni, asi ini
Ndinozviona, ndinozvinzwa
Ndakamboda kukuudzai nezvazvo
Asi hamuone, hamunzwe.

Nhetembo ndisekuru kumakura
Mudonzvo uchibaya-baya
Turukweza tusingakure
Vachitaura vega nemavende
Kuti, "Ko iro vhu ratakanzi rinouya
Richauya riinhiko zvataneta kumirira?
Asi rakatorwa rese nemuverengi wenhau
Nekuti ndiye akatanga kunzwa nezvazvo?"

Nhetembo ndimai vakabereka
Vanopukuta misodzi vagere muchipatara
Parutivi pemwana wavo anogomera
Asisataure, asisadye, asisvinure
Asisatarisike
Drip yakanyura muruoko
mudzonga wechimukuyu

Nhetembo ndimukoma vakapedza degree
PaUniversity vagere kumba pamushana
BSc Agriculture Honours, Crop Science
Vachiverenga column 30 yeHerald
Izere mabasa anoda maSecretary nemaMaids.

Nhetembo ndisisi kumaAvenue
Vakazvimba ziso nemuromo
Nekuti vakatiza mapurisa
Vakawira mudhireni
Ndokuzorohwa neclient
Yaramba kubhadhara 30 minutes

Nhetembo iri mumeso aKombi driver
Ari kuridza Madhawu achiverenga mari
Nekumhanyira kurank kuchingwa.

Nhetembo here, dzinenge ngano
Chete kungoti idzo hadzitange nekuti paivapo, kare kare
Asi kuti dzinotaura nyaya dzemazuva ese.

Dziri mumaziso emupurisa akabhuroka paroadblock
Ari kungotenderera achitsvaga mhosva pasina
Achiti pamwe, dzimwe nguva angango . . .

Nhetemboka mukoma, ndiblaz bofu
Vasisina ruremekedzo rwavaive narwo mubhazi reUnited
Vachingopiswa nefodya nevanhu vavasingaone
Kubackseat reCommuter kusina window!

Nhetembo hakusi kupupa furo
Nhetembo hakusi kunyadzisira
Kutuka kana kupopota
Nhetembo kutaura nevanhu.
Nhetembo ndini newe!
...

Hondo!
Hondo? Kupi? Yaani? Yei?
Hondo indondo!

Hondo hairevi chinhu
Kana uchirwa nezvipoko nemimvuri
Mimvuri nezvipoko
Asi usingazive chikonzero
Usingakwanise kuzotsanangurira vazukuru.

Ndak pano, ndisiyei
Ndisiyei nditeerere chirungurira changu
Ndisina anondinetsa
Ibvai, endai, ndisiyei . . . apfurwa ruoko neziso
Asi kwandiri hazvichina basa
Nekuti honye dzakadya, dzikakora

Chibvai
...

War!
War? Where? Who? Why?
Woe you mean!

War don't make no sense
When you fight ghosts and shadows
Fight ghosts and shadows
For a cause you don't know,
A cause you can't explain to your children's children.

I lost an arm and an eye
But it don't matter anymore
Maggots got their share.

Go away, leave me
To nurse my hangover
Privately, forlornly!
Leave me alone
with my absence.
...

Ndakaenda kuhondo
Ndaive naye hondo
Ndakafema mweya wake
Ndakabata mapendekete arufu
Ndikarara naye, akandipa njovhera mupfungwa.

Ndakaenda kuhondo
Ndaive naye hondo
Ndakatsvoda ndikapuruzira mabhambu
Ndakauchirira mhere dzevaifa ndichinakidzwa.

Zvino ndonzwazve
Kuti mati mave kutangazve imwe hondo!

Imbomirai zvishoma, mirai
Ini, ndipindureiwo
Munoda kuti ndife kangani
Kuti muzive kuti ndakafa?
Hamuoni honye dzakakora here
Dziri kutakanyika dzichibva mumuromo mangu
Ipo pano pandiri kutaura neni?
...

I have been to war
I have been with war
I have smelt and touched
And even made love to death
And got gonorrhoea in my soul.

I have been to war
I have been with war
Kissed and waltzed with gunshots
Applauded screams and shrieks.

Now I hear
You want to start again
Yet another war!

Excuse me, but I,
How many times
Must I die
For you to know
I am a dead?
Don't you see maggots
Coming out of my mouth
As I try to talk to you . . .
...