Homecoming Poem by Lak'wab Asis Nganai

I am on my way, going home
Away from the noise and congestion
Far from air pregnant with choking fumes
Where neighbours look at each other
with suspicion
And adventurers frowned upon.

Honking and hooting around me
Bring bout of anticipation
I am but an escapee.

As the bus tires kiss the tar
I hug myself to escape the cold
On the misted window I draw a star
My sketching so bold
‘cause in my mind I am already there
Where I have forsaken so unfair

Unblinking stare from small boy in front
………I must be smiling, sheepishly
Are you also going home?
He curls up to the refuge of his mother’s bosom
Maybe my eyes are not smiling
They lost their glint to unanswered questions


Anxiety grows as the journey shortens
Comes from not knowing what it’s all about
Is it sadness or happiness?

The fresh cow dung smell will replace
Reek of cigarette and cheap whisky
Cheerful and dewy,
The hung and dry-heavy mornings.
The flesh challenges the mind
A cause of more uncertainty

Trees whistle a symphony in the sundown breeze
In the background, a concert of laughter.
The neighbourhood children are one,
Playing under the monkey’s golden sun
And making baby-love
So much abandon
That I dare forsake


Here at last!
Always,
‘Cause I never left.

© lak’wab asis 2010
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