A Number Poem by Deluke Muwanigwa

A Number

When the sun peeps over the horizon
Like a concerned father
Checking on who lived or died overnight
I stir from my nightly slumber

And, again i remind myself i am just a number
My age is just a number
My identity is just a number
That day's date is just another number

Eyelids made of lead
The world straddling both my shoulders
I am like a bag of bones, themselves needing a little rearranging every morning

I yawn and stretch to creak them into position.
Soon as i reorientate from horizontal to the semi vertical
The gravity of my daily chores hits me
The same old stuff i have to do

Minding my numbers on this earth
Knowing my terminal reward will be death.
My interim morsels hardly enough to keep me from starvation
But i carry on everyday with hope

Singing, 'This world is not my home'
Drowning in my own sweat and blood.
And trying in this never ending miserable flood
To keep my head above water

When the sun peeps over the horizon
Like a concerned father
I rouse, drowsy, to mind my numbers.
Because i am just a number.

C.31102021