Death's Companion Poem by Norman Mukwakwami

I stood,
Under the weight of loneliness.
Distance and time seperated me from the world.
Women in colourful sarongs.
Men in dark suits.
Children in Sunday best.
Church women in various coloured uniforms.

The hole before me,
A gaping wound on the earth's flesh.
A menacing mouth.
The sweet smell of freshly dug soil,
Like the scent of dust on a dreary summer afternoon,
Foretelling the calamity of the storm to come.