Ignatius T. Mabasa Poems

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
...